Bangladesh's big decision: Travel banned in Israel

There is outrage amongst citizens of Bangladesh regarding the Israeli aggression against the Gaza strip. In response to increasing public outrage against Israeli aggression, Bangladesh's caretaker government has made a crucial decision.

Indeed, Bangladesh resumed inscribing all countries except Israel on the country's passport to disallow its nationals to travel to the Jewish state. The Home Ministry of Bangladesh has issued instructions to the Department of Passport and Immigration to re-include the sentence "This passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel" in the official travel permit of citizens going abroad.

The phrase 'all countries except Israel' was removed from Bangladesh passports in 2021 during the Awami League government led by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. At that time, officials had said that it was removed from the passport to maintain the international standards of the document.

We had issued the letter (instruction) on April 7, Bangladesh Home Ministry Security Services Division Deputy Secretary Nilima Afroz told a news agency. However, this was revealed on the day when thousands of protesters rallied in the capital to condemn Israeli action in the Gaza Strip, with hundreds carrying Palestinian flags and shouting slogans like Free, Free Palestine.

The main protest was held at Suhrawardy Udyan in central Dhaka near Dhaka University and many of them beat up pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accused them of supporting Israel. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and right-wing Islamic groups and parties expressed solidarity with the rally.