Four years after it was removed under the pretext of maintaining international passport standards, the phrase “Except Israel” has been reinstated on Bangladeshi passports.
The decision was announced in a circular issued Sunday by the Security Services Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Confirming the matter to the media, Nilima Afroz, Deputy Secretary of the division, said: “The phrase ‘Except Israel’ has been reintroduced on Bangladeshi passports. A gazette notification has also been issued regarding this.”
The move comes just a day after a demand to restore the phrase was raised during the “March for Gaza” rally in Dhaka, which expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Back in 2021, the government decided to remove the words “Except Israel” from passports. At the time, the then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal stated that while Bangladesh’s position on Israel remained unchanged, the removal was done “to align with international standards.”
Bangladesh has long stood by Palestine in the decades-old Middle East conflict and is one of the 137 countries that officially recognize the State of Palestine. Bangladesh does not recognize Israel and has no diplomatic relations with the country. In contrast, space has been allocated in Dhaka for a Palestinian embassy.
Previously, the first page of Bangladeshi passports carried the declaration: “This passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel.” In May 2021, this restriction was removed from newly issued e-passports and passport renewals, with the line simplified to: “This passport is valid for all countries of the world.”
Now, after four years, the original phrase has been reinstated.
Bangladeshi passport holders will once again be officially barred from traveling to Israel, while travel to any other country remains unrestricted.