What a mess.
First of all there are two countries named Malta. Although there are historical connections, nowadays they are separate and distinct. One is a weak island nation in the Mediterranean. Like one anon said, this is a small dig.
The other one is a hugely powerful organization with access to lots of money and political power. It's official name is Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta but it is usually just called the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and even more often referred to as SMOM. Their headquarters are in Rome. They are a masonic style organization that has no territory like most countries do, and yet SMOM is considered a sovereign state and sends ambassadors to various countries.
SMOM is worth a lot of digging because there are Americans who are in the order, and they link a lot of the royal families of this world together.
But Pete Buttigeig's ancestors come from the little island, and like the little mayor and the little city that he got in charge of through election fraud, Malta is only of little importance.