Opposition MP requests President to withdraw visa free benefit to Israel

1 August 2025 07:57 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 22 Bookmark

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Colombo, August 01 (Daily Mirror) - Opposition MP Mujibur Rahman, in a letter addressed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for the cancellation of the visa free entry to Israeli tourists.

“To avoid getting thrown in the garbage heap of history for aiding and abetting the genocide of a friendly nation, we urge you to withdraw the free visa advantage given to Israel and include Palestine among the countries eligible for free visa to visit Sri Lanka,” MP Rahman said in his letter to the President.

He said the following in his letter:

We are shocked to learn of the government’s shameful decision to include Israel among the 40 countries granted entry to Sri Lanka without paying for a visa. This allows credibly accused war criminals to enter our motherland and possibly escape justice. It is further alarming to note that Palestine is not among the nations that can enter Sri Lanka without a visa. This is not what is expected from the leadership of a country that has consistently supported a free Palestine.

Israel is a country condemned by international human rights bodies including the UN for its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Starvation, denial of medicines and humanitarian aid are weapons in the Israeli arsenal. At the time of writing, the total number of Palestinians who have died from hunger since Israel’s war began is 127. More than half of them are children. This is in addition to the tens of thousands of civilians killed by firepower.

On 27 July, Handala, a ship carrying aid to starving Palestinians was stormed by Israeli forces. The fate of the 19 international human rights defenders and two journalists are not known. This is the second active Israel blockade of an international aid ship within two months. Sri Lanka, among many other democratic nations, is yet to condemn these atrocities.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant exactly a month after they assumed office, for their involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict. Members of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) under their command are certainly the perpetrators and witnesses.

Your government’s decision to open the country without due diligence, scrutiny and vetting to IDF members, war criminals, criminal settlers in occupied West Bank and Zionist extremists will inevitably land you and Sri Lanka among the international rejects complicit in the genocide. This will certainly outweigh the currency you expect to gain from tourism. Already, we are struggling to clear the mess by providing state protection to illegal Chabad houses and businesses run by IDF members.

We are further concerned that this visa privilege to Israel comes in the wake of Sri Lanka using draconian anti-terror laws to throw two Sri Lankans behind bars for expressing solidarity with Palestine.