What was claimed
The Maldives has recently cut all ties with Israel and banned all Israeli products.
Our verdict
This is misleading. The Maldives actually cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 1974, and imposed a ban on the import and sale of all goods manufactured in Israel in 2014. The country also banned entry for Israeli passport holders in 2025, before the current conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.
Social media posts with ‘breaking news’ banners incorrectly suggest that the Maldives has recently “cut all ties with Israel and banned all Israeli products”.
The posts have been shared since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, and although they don’t say so explicitly, the implication appears to be that the Maldives has taken action following the outbreak of the latest conflict.
But the Maldives actually suspended diplomatic relations in 1974 and imposed a ban on the import and sale of all goods manufactured in Israel in 2014.
The country also banned Israeli passport holders from entering the Maldives in 2025.
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Neither we nor other fact checkers have found any evidence of the Maldives further cutting ties or introducing a new ban on Israeli products.
You can find more of our work debunking misinformation circulating on social media since the outbreak of the current conflict in the Middle East here.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because the Maldives actually cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 1974, imposed a ban on the import and sale of all goods manufactured in Israel in 2014 and banned entry for Israeli passport holders in 2025.
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