Malta is far from insignificant. It stood up against the forces of Islam more than once. And its language is a variant of Arabic
Well, it was less the population of Malta resisting the Muslims than it was the Knights of Malta. That was an international order of aristocratic warriors (they are still around, still have aristocrats, but are not warriors anymore). The Maltese did their bit, but the leaders, the money and the mercenaries came via the Knights.
Malta was an important air base for the Brits during WWII. It was put under seige by the Germans, who wanted to stop the British from using it as a stop on their way to North Africa. It was awarded the George Cross by the British after WWI for standing up to nightly bombing by the Germans and the seige, which had the island on the verge of starvation.
It’s a very ancient island civilization, and the island is covered with prehistoric monuments as well as remnants of the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, etc. The Knights of Malta have a very beautiful church there with chapels built by the different national groups in the Knights. It has been under just about every crown and country in Europe and the ME at one time or another, but during WWII it was British. (It became independent in 1964.). After the war, many Maltese emigrated to Australia.
I found this out because I was curious about this because when I was visiting Malta, I saw that a lot of houses in a particular area of the island had kangaroo-themed decorating or gardens - kangaroo cut-outs on their mailboxes, garden ornaments, etc. These were people who had gone to Australia after the war, made their fortunes and returned.