A Kuwaiti minister issued a decision on Saturday banning the entry of commercial ships loaded with goods to and from Israel into Kuwaiti territorial waters, according to local media reports.
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"The ban includes all ships coming from other ports to unload part of their cargo in Kuwaiti ports whenever they are carrying any of the goods stipulated in the ban, with the intention of shipping them to and from... Israel," said Kuwaiti paper Al-Anba on Sunday.
The directive came from Minister of Works and of State for Communications and Information Technology Dr. Rana al-Fares.
The Hamas terrorist organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, issued a statement welcoming the decision, urging other countries to "follow the same approach."
Kuwait passed a law in May prohibiting any form of contact with Israel, and banned Kuwaiti nationals and expats from visiting the Jewish state. The bill also outlawed "expressions of sympathy" with Israel.
Kuwait boycotted a renewable energy conference in Abu Dhabi January 2014 because it was attended by Israel.
After former US President Donald Trump said he believed Kuwait would be the next to normalize ties with Israel following the signing of the Abraham Accords, Kuwait said it would be the "last to normalize" ties.
"Our stance on Israel has not changed, following the UAE normalization agreement, and we will be the last to normalize relations," the Al Qabas newspaper reported in August 2020, citing an unnamed senior official.
Dr. Michael Barak, a Middle East researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, told Israel Hayom that "the Muslim Brotherhood movement is very strong in Kuwait, and the state has very strong ties with the Palestinians."
"The Kuwaitis don't want to go back on their traditional support of the Palestinians, especially from the royal family, and the Arab national view that is still prominent in Kuwait. Those ties saw a major crisis because of the Palestinians' support for Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War, but by 2015 relations were gradually restored."
As for the Kuwaiti parliament, Barak noted that "the Muslim Brotherhood is a strong force there, and they are very close to the royal family, which tries to present itself as the defender of the Palestinians.
"In Kuwait, there are Salafi associations that transfer donations to Hamas, which shows us that their ties [to the Palestinians] aren't only with the PA leadership in Ramallah.
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"These issues influence the royal family, which does not want a direct conflict with the many members of parliament from the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafi parties, or the parties that hold a pan-Arab worldview," Barak explained.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
