 "Protesters condemn Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, at a rally in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo)")
Bangladesh has reintroduced the “except Israel” travel restriction on its passports, effectively barring citizens from visiting the Jewish state, officials said on Sunday. The move comes in response to growing public anger over Israel’s ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The home ministry 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 visiting abroad, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
The phrase “all countries except Israel” was dropped in 2021 during the Awami League government led by now-deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The authorities at that time said it was dropped from the passport to maintain international standards of the document.
“We issued the letter (directive) on April 7,” Nilima Afroze, Deputy Secretary of Home Ministry’s Security Services Division, told the news agency.
The disclosure, however, came a day after thousands of protesters rallied in the capital to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, carrying hundreds of Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like “Free, Free Palestine.”
The protesters, estimated at some 100,000, gathered at the Suhrawardy Park in the Dhaka University area. They carried hundreds of Palestinian flags and chanted slogans such as “Free, Free Palestine.”
Impact Shorts
View AllMany among them beat the images of U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing them of backing Israel. Symbolic coffins and effigies representing civilian casualties were carried during the rally.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Islamist groups and parties expressed their solidarity with the rally.
The protest, backed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Islamist groups, escalated national tensions. Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million, has no diplomatic ties with Israel and supports Palestinian statehood.
With inputs from agencies