Bangladesh reintroduces “except Israel” inscription in passport

The 'Except Israel' condition has been reinstated on Bangladeshi passports.

A notification signed by home ministry’s security services division Deputy Secretary Nilima Afroze confirmed the matter on Sunday (April 13).

The home ministry officials said they issued a directive asking the passport and immigration department to reinstate the sentence “THIS PASSPORT IS VALID FOR ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD EXCEPT ISRAEL” in the official travel permits for citizens for visiting abroad.

“We issued the letter (directive) on April 7,” Nilima Afroze said.

The sentence was dropped in 2021 during the Awami League led government. The authorities at that time said the phrase "all countries except Israel" from passport was dropped to maintain international standards of the document but there was no change in Bangladesh’s decades-long policy of travel ban to the Jewish state.