New Delhi: Much to Israel’s surprise that while dropping of words “except Israel” in the new passport seemed Bangladesh has lifted decade long travel ban on Israel, Bangladesh has clarified that the removal of words has been done to maintain the international standard of Bangladesh e-passports and does not imply any change of Bangladesh’s foreign policy towards the Middle East.
Earlier, Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen took to Twitter and said, “Great news! #Bangladesh has removed the travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper.@IsraelMFA. #IsraelLooksEast”.
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Great news! #Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper.@IsraelMFA #IsraelLooksEast https://t.co/LbOLbm9dfG
— Gilad Cohen 🇮🇱 (@GiladCohen_) May 22, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Great news! #Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper.@IsraelMFA #IsraelLooksEast https://t.co/LbOLbm9dfG
— Gilad Cohen 🇮🇱 (@GiladCohen_) May 22, 2021Great news! #Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper.@IsraelMFA #IsraelLooksEast https://t.co/LbOLbm9dfG
— Gilad Cohen 🇮🇱 (@GiladCohen_) May 22, 2021
However, Bangladesh Foreign ministry on Sunday clarified the confusion and presented its stance on Israel. It said, “The attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a tweet issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel welcoming removal of the 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 do not contain the observation “all countries excepting Israel”.
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“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”, the press statement issued by Bangladesh Foreign Ministry added.
This comes after a ceasefire has been brokered on Thursday between Israel and Palestine after 11 days of violence and atrocities that have claimed thousands of lives so far.
The Government of Bangladesh has condemned the recent atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in the al-Aqsa mosque compound and at Gaza.
Bangladesh reiterates its principled position concerning the two-State solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict in light of the UN resolutions recognizing pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, the statement read.
