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I would like to visit Israel, but I have heard that if you visit some Muslim countries, they won't let you in, and visa versa.

Does it depend on which Muslim countries? I imagine there would be different policies say between Egypt and Iran. Does the order of visit matter? How can 'they' tell you have been to a particular country, is it by the stamps in your passport or what?

I am on a New Zealand passport.

I have visited Malaysia and Indonesia (Bali) in the past (with a stamp in my current passport)

I would like to visit Israel.

I would like to visit the following Muslim/Middle eastern countries:

Egypt, Jordan (Petra), Turkey, Malaysia again.

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Regarding Turkey, Egypt and Jordan:

The three countries have diplomatic relations and peace treaties with Israel. From personal experience you can enter Turkey with an Israeli passport, and from people I personally know, the same goes for Egypt and Jordan. So an Israeli stamp in the passport isn't a problem.

Regarding Malaysia, which doesn't have diplomatic relations with Israel:

According to sources online, it isn't a problem either.

If you're still not sure, you should contact your local Malaysian embassy.

Israel doesn't stop anyone from visiting it, regardless of the stamps in their passport (as long as you're not perceived as a security threat).

If you want to be on the cautious side, or want to visit in the future countries that don't allow visitors with Israeli stamps in their passport, you can ask the border control officer to not stamp your passport, but stamp another piece of paper instead. This is explained here and here.

Israel no longer stamps passports at entry or departure, instead they give you a small paper which you should save until you leave the country, so you will not have Israeli stamps in your passport. But take notice that if you travel to/from Jordan or Egypt by land from/to Israel, you will have the Egyptian/Jordanian stamp that shows that you went through a border crossing with Israel.

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  • Thank you for your answer. In the sentence That is explained here and here the two here's link to the same page. Was that your intention?
    – Saaru Lindestøkke
    Aug 6, 2013 at 11:20
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    @BartArondson, it was by mistake. fixed now.
    – SIMEL
    Aug 6, 2013 at 11:35
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    One problem with Israeli immigration is probably that it for no one is comprehensible what they perceive as a security threat. There are regular stories in the Norwegian press about Norwegians being denied entry to Israel without any obvious reason. Being potentially critical against the Israeli violations of human rights and international conventions seem to be reason enough to be denied entry.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Aug 6, 2013 at 12:54
  • Entering Israel from Jordan (I entered via the Allenby/King Hussein bridge) is the way I'd recommend; it was a mere formality with no immigration controls whatsoever when I went (2007) (the assumption seems to be that you've already been cleared by Jordan so you're OK).
    – Maximus Minimus
    Dec 2, 2013 at 21:42
  • Entering Israel (Eilat) from Jordan (Aqaba) this year in May I got a stamp into my passport.
    – Jan
    Jun 6, 2016 at 0:53
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Israel's immigration allows you to stamp in a piece of paper ( outside the passport ), so if you want to travel to other Arabian countries, their immigration will not get the Israel's immigration stamp in your passport.

Check this blog about Israel's Passport Stamping Policy.

I never heard any problem entering Israel after visiting Bali / Malaysia.

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    NZ friend was interrogated for two hours in Israel because 1) he'd visited Malaysia and 2) wrote down 'programmer' as occupation. Go figure :/
    – Mark Mayo
    Aug 6, 2013 at 10:13
  • I may able to reason with 1st reason but what is the problem with the programmer? Curious because I'm a programmer too...
    – Rudy Gunawan
    Aug 6, 2013 at 10:20
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    By this, I mean not stamping the passport even he can travel to Iran too! My Italian friends and one of my English friends did it! I know no more restrict country about Israel than my own country. So do not collect Israelis stamps in your passport and travel to all Arabian countries even Iran confidently!
    – Persian Cat
    Aug 6, 2013 at 10:26
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    @MarkMayo maybe they were worried about him working without a visa in Israel, rather than him being a terrorist threat?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Aug 6, 2013 at 11:24
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    And back. Evidently he had been in/out of Malaysia 3 times due to the volcano eruption in 2010, and couldn't remember some of his family details, which raised flags. So more about the erratic travel, methinks.
    – Mark Mayo
    Aug 6, 2013 at 12:00

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