Maldives annuls 3 bilateral pacts with Israel

The Maldives cancels three bilateral agreements with Israel and calls for a boycott of Israeli products in protest over Operation Protective Edge.

The Maldivian delegation to the United Nations in New York informs Israeli diplomats that they were instructed to suspend agreements on education and science, medicine, and tourism, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official tells The Times of Israel. No explanation has been given for the move, the official says, but it seems clear that anti-Israel demonstrations have prodded the tiny island nation’s government to take what appears to be an entirely symbolic step.

“President [Abdulla] Yameen and the Maldivian citizens are with the Palestinian people,” Maumoon tells reporters. “I do not think Maldivians want any help from Israel or want to keep up relations with Israel. So from now on, the agreements have been annulled.”

According to local media reports, the government in Malé is also boycotting the import of Israeli goods, but acknowledges that this step, too, is largely “symbolic.”

“Even though what we give is small or symbolic, the way it is received is important. The message we want to give is we are with the Palestinian people,” Maldives Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon says.

The Republic of Maldives, a tiny Muslim island nation southwest of Sri Lanka, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, yet until a few years ago bilateral ties were growing increasingly cordial. In February 2012, the government in Malé was deposed in what observers called a political coup. Mohamed Nasheed — the country’s first democratically elected president, known for his pro-Israel stance — was ousted and replaced by Islamist hardliners.

— Raphael Ahren