Semafor Signals
Maldives to ban Israelis from entering the country over war in Gaza
Insights from The Jerusalem Post, Bloomberg, and Politico
The News
The Maldives government plans to ban Israelis from the country, as public anger has risen in the Indian Ocean country over the war in Gaza.
The Maldives president has “resolved to impose a ban on Israeli passports,” a spokesperson said Sunday. The country was visited by almost 11,000 Israelis last year.
Israel’s foreign ministry recommended that its citizens not travel to the Maldives, and advised those in the country to consider leaving.
It’s the latest diplomatic snub for Israel over its military campaign in Gaza. Elsewhere, Turkey banned imports and exports from Israel, several European countries have announced plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state, and key partners in the Middle East have recalled their ambassadors in the wake of the war.
SIGNALS
Israel is increasingly isolated
Israel has become increasingly isolated internationally in recent months. Both the United Nations’ General Assembly and the Security Council, where Israel could once rely on a US veto, have called for a ceasefire. An International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for the organization to issue arrest warrants for senior members of the Israeli leadership has led some countries, including Germany, to say they would arrest and deport Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if asked to do so by the court. “The world is pitted against Israel in a way we haven’t seen before,” The Jerusalem Post wrote in an editorial.
International pressure may mute domestic criticism
The international pressure on Israel has had a dramatic economic and diplomatic fallout, but it does not appear to have had a significant impact on how Israelis perceive the war or their leaders. More than 70% of Israelis think that the country’s war in Gaza has been the right response or has not gone far enough, a recent Pew survey found. “The heightened international pressure will likely produce a domestic ‘circle-the-wagons’ effect and mute much of the internal criticism of Netanyahu,” an expert wrote in The Conversation. In May, Netanyahu’s popularity rose above his main political rivals for the first time since the war against Hamas began, Bloomberg reported.
Israel has so far avoided crossing US red lines
US President Joe Biden’s red line — the moment when Israel’s military actions in Rafah would prompt him to halt US weapons shipments — has remained “elusive” and “vague,” CNN reported. The White House has said that a recent deadly Israeli strike on a refugee camp in Rafah, which drew international outrage, did not cross Biden’s red line. Israel’s strategy of launching more precise attacks on Rafah might placate Biden, a US administration official told CNN, but will likely continue to harm civilians in Gaza. After discussions with the US, Israel has canceled its plan for a larger operation in Rafah, and has used smaller munitions to avoid crossing Biden’s red line, The Wall Street Journal reported.
