DHAKA, April 13, 2025 (BSS) – Bangladesh authorities have reintroduced “Except Israel” inscription in passports formally debarring Bangladeshis from travelling to the country, officials said today.

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,” home ministry’s security services division Deputy Secretary Nilima Afroze told BSS.

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.