President Muizzu welcomes ICC’s arrest warrant against Israel’s Netanyahu

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has welcomed the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

ICC, on Thursday, issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes” – as Israel’s genocidal offensive in Gaza recently entered its second year, having already killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and wounded over 103,000 others.

President Muizzu, via a post on X on late Thursday night, welcomed ICC’s decision, citing it to be a crucial step towards ensuring accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The #Maldives welcomes the @IntlCrimCourt's decisions today with regard to the situation in the State of Palestine. This is a crucial step towards ensuring accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Maldives respects the decisions of the ICC and underscores…

— Dr Mohamed Muizzu (@MMuizzu) November 21, 2024

“Upholding international law and ensuring justice for the Palestinian people is essential to restoring peace in the region,” he said while underscoring Maldives’ respect for the decisions of the ICC and the importance of honoring and implementing the Court’s rulings.

Despite the warrants, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate threat of prosecution, although it could hinder them from traveling abroad. 

Technically, if either of them were to visit any of the 122 ICC member states they must be arrested and handed over to the court. However, the Court itself has no means of enforcing such an arrest and the member state can choose not to make the arrest. 

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s cabinet made the decision to make legislative changes to ban Israeli passports on June 2. But the Parliament had already received a bill from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), seeking a blanket ban on travelers with Israeli passports.

South Galolhu MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem’s bill, submitted on May 29, is designed to add a clause to Article 8 of Immigration Act, which lists individuals who are barred from entering the Maldives. It seeks to bar the entry of all Israeli passport holders, including those who have dual citizenship.

Following the cabinet’s decision, the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) – which holds supermajority – decided to accept the bill into the Parliament, and make the changes the government wanted during the committee stage.

It was sent to the National Security Services Committee for review with a unanimous vote on 88 on June 10. But work on the bill would remain stalled for the next five months. The delays prompted MDP to submit a resolution urging the expedition of the bill which was rejected by PNC lawmakers on Wednesday. PNC claimed that the resolution was not submitted with honest intent.

While the Committee now reviews the bill – PNC lawmakers’ tune on the matter has completely shifted. In this regard, the Committee has expressed opposition to implementing a blanket ban on all Israeli passport holders though the original cabinet decision in June had been to implement such a change.

In this regard, the Committee discussed consulting with relevant stakeholders, including tourism sector representatives, and obtaining necessary statistics ahead of a decision.