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Bangladesh’s interim government announced on Sunday it has reintroduced the “except Israel” inscription on the country’s passports, formally debarring its citizens from travelling to the Jewish state.
“We issued the letter to the passport and immigration department on April 7,” Nilima Afroze, deputy secretary of the Bangladesh home ministry, told The State-Run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) News Agency.
The statement “THIS PASSPORT IS VALID FOR ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD EXCEPT ISRAEL” was dropped from the official travel documents in May 2021 during the tenure of the Awami League government of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In August last year, the government collapsed after Hasina resigned and came to India following weeks of student-led protests against her.
The caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge on August 8, three days after Hasina’s ouster.
Why was the ‘except Israel’ text dropped from Bangladeshi passports?
According to BSS, the authorities at the time had said the purpose was to “maintain international standards of the document” and maintained there would be “no change” to Dhaka’s decades-long policy of travel ban to Israel.
However, after the text was removed, Bangladeshi nationals were allowed travel to Israel from a third country if they could obtain a visa.
The two nations do not have diplomatic ties. Dhaka supports an independent Palestine.
Why is it being reintroduced?
The inscription has been brought back at a time when there is widespread anger in India’s eastern neighbour over Israel’s military offensive in Palestine’s Gaza Strip.
Also Read: At least 72 arrested across Bangladesh after anti-Israel protests turn violent
On Saturday, thousands of protesters rallied in the capital Dhaka with Palestinian flags and chanted slogans like “Free, Free Palestine.”
The main protest was held at the Suhrawardy Udyan near the premier Dhaka University. Several protesters “beat” the images of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, as well as Islamic groups and other political parties expressed solidarity with the rally.
