Bangladesh drops 'except Israel' from passport, denies normalization with Tel Aviv

Bangladeshi passports earlier had a clause written on them that said: "This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel", but the government on Saturday decided to remove "except Israel" from the document.

This decision comes after the 11-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian which claimed many lives and left several injured.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday, "We have taken decision to drop "except Israel" from passport six months ago when we introduced e-passport. It is for standardisation of our passport. But our foreign policy will remain the same towards Israel. We are not going to establish our ties with Israel. We support the struggle of the people of Palestine. We also support two-state solutions. So, our foreign policy will remain unchanged."

Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted saying Bangladesh has removed a travel ban to Israel.

"Great news! Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step and I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with Israel so both our peoples could benefit and prosper," he tweeted.

Bangladesh foreign ministry, however, on Sunday clarified in a tweet that "irrespective of new e-passports, Bangladesh did not change position on Israel including travel ban."

"Bangladesh condemned atrocities to Palestinians, and reiterates its principled position concerning the two-state solution of #Palestine-#Israel conflict in light of UN resolutions," the tweet further read.

Irrespective of new e-passports, #Bangladesh did not change position on Israel including travel ban. Bangladesh condemned atrocities to Palestinians, and reiterates its principled position concerning the two-state solution of #Palestine-#Israel conflict in light of UN resolutions

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh (@BDMOFA) May 23, 2021

In a press release, the Bangladesh foreign ministry said: "The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a twitter issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel welcoming removal of ban on travel to Israel on E-passports being issued by Bangladesh. The confusion appears to have emanated from the new booklets of E-passports which does not contain the observation "all countries excepting Israel [sic]".

The statement added: "The removal of the observation has been done to maintain international standard of Bangladeshi e-passports and does not imply any change of Bangladesh's foreign policy towards the Middle East. The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel remains unchanged. The Government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard [sic]".