One day, I saw a message from a Malaysian Christian friend asking if anyone interested in visiting Israel next year. I raised my eyebrows when I saw this bizarre message. How could my friend travel to Israel even being a Christian?
I recalled that the Malaysian passport has stated on its front page, "This passport is valid for all countries except for Israel" or in Malay, (Pasport ini sah digunakan untuk semua negera kecuali Israel).
After some googling, I found out more information about Malaysians travelling to Israel. Before 2009, Malaysian Christians were allowed into the country as pilgrims. However, they were only able to do so via a tour group and they were not allowed to stay longer than two weeks. In 2009, the Malaysian government banned trips to Israel. The ban was later lifted in 2011 and in 2012, the stays were extended to 21 days. If you do wish to make the trip, you will need to go through a Christian organisation and join their pilgrimage group or find specific business seminars.
Hence, my friend can travel to Israel now through the Christian organisation's tour group. And, the next question is whether the record of entering and exiting Israel with a Malaysian passport would it cause any issues re-entering Malaysia?
It seems that Malaysian travel to Israel not only has to be on a Christian group tour but also has to fly from a third country, like Singapore. Moreover, it seems that since early 2013, most visitors to Israel do not have their passports stamped… by default!
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