Israel | Bangladesh |
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Bangladesh and Israel do not maintain diplomatic relations. Bangladesh has stated that it will not recognize Israel until there is an independent Palestinian state. [1] Some reports have alleged that Bangladesh and Israel maintain some trade relations indirectly and sometimes secretly, although the government denies these allegations.
Bangladesh is one of 28 UN member states that do not recognize the state of Israel. It is one of several countries that officially bans its citizens from traveling to Israel and does not accept Israeli passports. [2] [3] [4] In November 2003, Bangladeshi journalist Salah Choudhury was arrested for attempting to fly to Tel Aviv, arraigned for "sedition, treason, and blasphemy", and sentenced to a seven-year prison term. [5] [6] Bangladesh officially supports a sovereign Palestinian state and "an end to Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine". [3]
In a September 2011 statement published in The Jerusalem Post , an Israeli government spokesperson said, "We have no conflict with Bangladesh. We want dialogue. We want people-to-people relations. We welcome the religious-minded people of Bangladesh to visit the holy land of Jerusalem". [7] Israel fruitlessly "sought a relationship with Bangladesh" after they had established "full diplomatic relations with China and India in 1992". [8] Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in 2014, "We have been continuing our support to the Palestinians and occupation of their land by the Israelis is never acceptable". [9]
In late May 2021, Bangladesh removed "except Israel" from their passport to meet the "international standard" [10] [11] from an earlier version which said "This passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel". The removal was only from their e-passport and removal from machine readable passports (MRP) is on process. [10] [12] Though the term was removed from the passport, Bangladesh did not remove the ban on traveling to Israel with Bangladeshi passport. [13]
Bangladesh has expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian people during the 2023 Israel-Hamas War. [14]
Bangladesh maintains a ban on trade with Israel even though both countries are members of the World Trade Organization. [8] In 2014, it was found from the official statistics of the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau that Bangladesh had exported a small amount of merchandise goods worth about US$2,577 to Israel in 2013–14 fiscal year. [15] In recent years however, it is found that Bangladeshi products are exported to Israel through the United States, the European Union or other third countries. [16]
Israel imported ready-made garments, apparel and textile products from Bangladesh worth $333.74 million in the fiscal year 2022. Most imported Bangladeshi goods came via Turkey, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. [17] Ready-made garments brokerage based in Singapore made payments to Bangladeshi banks from Singapore and Turkey as there is no direct diplomatic and economic relationship between both countries. [18]
Indian company Adani Group’s planned take-over of the Port of Haifa would allow Muslim countries, including Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, to ship products to and from Haifa port despite not having a direct diplomatic relationship. [19] A private company named Fluent Cargo ships goods from Bangladesh to Israel via air cargo and containers from Shahjalal International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport and Chittagong Port to Haifa Port. [20]
The economic potential of the two countries is immense, said Joseph Rozen, the former director for Asia and Euro-Asia affairs in the Israeli National Security Council. [21] Israel needs goods and services that Bangladesh can offer directly instead of obtaining the same Bangladeshi goods via Singapore and Turkey. [22]
In February 2021, an Al-Jazeera investigation report titled " All the Prime Minister's Men " alleged that Bangladeshi military intelligence secretly bought Israeli-made mobile phone surveillance and manipulation equipment that can be used to simultaneously monitor hundreds of people. [23] The report also claimed that some Bangladeshi military officers were trained by Israeli tech experts at a warehouse in Hungary. [24] Bangladesh Army denied these allegations in an official statement. [25]
Bangladesh’s security agency, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, commonly known as DGFI, purchased mass surveillance software, spyware and cyber monitoring products from Israeli companies worth $12 million. [26] Bangladeshi Government’s security agents were trained in Hungary and Thailand. [18] [27] Photos appeared online showing DGFI agents posing for photos with Israeli trainers. [28]
Israel was one of the first nations to recognize the independent Bangladesh in February 1972. [29] Both the Israeli Government and the Israeli general public supported the aspirations of the Bengali people during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. After the independence of Bangladesh, the newly formed country was quickly recognized by Israel on 7 February 1972. [29] However the Government of Bangladesh officially rejected the Israeli recognition. [7] [30] On behalf of the Bangladeshi Government, the then Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, issued a letter saying this recognition was not acceptable. [7]
In the immediate aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon War, Bangladesh offered to send battalions of its infantrymen to help with the UN peacekeeping force, but Israel rejected it stating that Bangladesh does not recognize Israel. [31] Although Israel rejected the country's participation, Bangladesh was one of first countries whose troops reached the shores of south Lebanon. Whereas western nations, such as the original leader and top contributor to Lebanon, France, delayed their deployment. As of May 2015, Bangladesh has 326 peacekeepers participating in UNIFIL in Lebanon. [32]
In May 2016, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alleged that opposition parties BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh have joined with Israeli national intelligence agency Mossad to overthrow her government through a coup after it had been reported that Aslam Chowdhury, the joint secretary general of BNP met the Israeli politician Mendi N. Safadi during a visit to India. [33] Aslam claimed that the meeting was accidental. [34]
On 7 June 2016, Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan alleged that the main opposition party BNP has link to the recent fundamentalists attacks in Bangladesh and these attacks are part of a wider conspiracy that also involved Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. [35] Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman referred to the allegations as "utter drivel." [35]
Following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry swiftly condemned the loss of innocent civilian lives from both sides and expressed its endorsement of a two-state solution to the conflict. [36] Emphasizing that the escalation of conflict benefits no party, Government of Bangladesh called on both sides to exercise maximum restraint and implement an immediate ceasefire to prevent further casualties. [37] Bangladesh has long advocated for a two-state solution, envisioning Palestine and Israel coexisting as independent states in adherence to UN Resolutions 242 and 338, with the aim of establishing enduring peace and stability in the region. Information Minister, Hasan Mahmud, firmly stated the country's opposition to wars and killings, highlighting the unacceptable nature of holding civilians hostage during conflicts, irrespective of the location or circumstances. He specifically denounced the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, including the cutoff of essential resources, as an unjustifiable act in the name of war. [38]
On November 17, Bangladesh, along with four other nations, including South Africa, jointly called for an International Criminal Court investigation into Israel's indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip. [39]
The Gaza Strip, or simply Gaza, is a polity and the smaller of the two Palestinian territories. On the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north.
Palestinian Christians are a religious community of the Palestinian people consisting of those who identify as Christians, including those who are cultural Christians in addition to those who actively adhere to Christianity. They are a religious minority within the State of Palestine and within Israel, as well as within the Palestinian diaspora. Applying the broader definition, which groups together individuals with full or partial Palestinian Christian ancestry, the term was applied to an estimated 500,000 people globally in the year 2000. As most Palestinians are Arabs, the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Christians also identify as Arab Christians.
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is an Israeli politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is the chairman of the Likud party. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of over 16 years. He is also the first prime minister to have been born in Israel after its establishment.
The foreign relations of Bangladesh are Bangladesh's relationships with foreign countries. The Government of Bangladesh's policies pursue a moderate foreign policy that heavily relies on multilateral diplomacy, especially at the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has stressed its principle of "Friendship towards all, malice towards none" in dictating its diplomacy. As a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Bangladesh has tended to not take sides with major powers. Since the end of the Cold War, Bangladesh has pursued better relations with its neighbours and other nearby states.
Foreign relations of Israel refers to diplomatic and trade relations between Israel and other countries around the world. Israel has diplomatic ties with 164 of the other 192 UN member states as of December 2020. Israel is a member of the United Nations (UN) and a number of other international organisations. Israel maintains full diplomatic relations with two of its Arab neighbours, Egypt and Jordan, after signing peace treaties in 1979 and 1994 respectively. In 2020, Israel signed agreements establishing diplomatic relations with four Arab League countries, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco. As of 2021, Israel had formal diplomatic relations with 168 other countries, while twenty-eight UN member states have either never established, or have broken off diplomatic relations with Israel.
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Founded on 15 November 1988 and officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it claims the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as its territory, all of which have been Israeli-occupied territories since the 1967 Six-Day War. The West Bank contains 165 Palestinian enclaves that are under partial Palestinian rule, but the remainder, including 200 Israeli settlements, is under full Israeli control. The Gaza Strip was governed by Egypt but conquered by Israel in 1967. Israel governed the region until it withdrew in 2005. The United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and various human-rights organizations still consider Gaza to be held under Israeli military occupation, due to what they regard as Israel's effective military control over the territory; Israel disputes this. Hamas seized power after winning the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. This has since been ensued by a blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt.
The Gaza–Israel barrier is a border barrier located on the Israeli side of the Gaza–Israel border. The Erez Crossing, in the north of the Gaza Strip, is the only crossing point for people and goods coming from Israel into the Gaza Strip; there exists a second crossing point in the barrier, called the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which is exclusive for the crossing of goods coming from Egypt, as Israel does not allow goods to go directly from Egypt into Gaza through the Egypt–Gaza border.
Israel–New Zealand relations are the foreign relations between the State of Israel and New Zealand. While Israel has an embassy in Wellington, New Zealand's embassy in Ankara, Turkey is accredited to Israel. Diplomatic relations between the two countries date back to January 1949. New Zealand has exported a mixture of agricultural and manufactured goods to Israel. In return, Israel has exported a range of manufactured goods to New Zealand. Bilateral relations between the two countries have been complicated by issues such as the 2004 Israel–New Zealand passport scandal, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The Bangladeshi passport is an ICAO compliant, machine-readable and biometric e-passport issued for the purpose of travel to foreign countries by the passport holder. Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia to issue e-passports for all eligible citizens. The passport booklet is manufactured, printed and issued by the Department of Immigration & Passports of the Ministry of Home Affairs. This electronic microprocessor chip embedded e-passport has forty-one different security features, including holographic images embossed in thin-film laminate, which change colour under light and appear to move. Demographic and biometric information of the e-passport holder are stored on the chip inside the e-passport. This information includes the fingerprints of all ten fingers of the passport holder; the iris scan of both eyes; a color photograph of the face of the bearer; their digital signature; etc. Depending on the age of the applicant, the e-passport is valid for either five years or ten years and it is distributed by the Government of The People's Republic of Bangladesh, or by any of its overseas diplomatic missions, to eligible Bangladeshi nationals who are citizens by birth, by descent or through naturalization.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the State of Israel formally established diplomatic relations in 1992. While the Republic of China had de jure recognized Israeli sovereignty in 1949, it eventually lost the Chinese Civil War, bringing the PRC's Communist Party to power across mainland China. In 1950, Israel became the first country in the Middle East to recognize the PRC as the sole government of China, but the Communist Party did not reciprocate by establishing diplomatic ties due to Israel's alignment with the Western Bloc during the Cold War. This discontent persisted until the Cold War came to a close with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Iraq–Israel relations refer to the bilateral ties between the State of Israel and the Republic of Iraq. Due to Iraq's non-recognition of Israel as a legitimate state since the latter's establishment in 1948, the two countries have not had any formal diplomatic relations. The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was a part of the Arab coalition that declared war on and invaded Israel shortly after its establishment, sparking the First–Arab Israeli War, and the two states have since then been in a continuous state of hostilities. Iraqi forces also participated in the Third Arab–Israeli War and the Fourth Arab–Israeli War in 1967 and 1973, respectively.
Ireland–Israel relations are foreign relations between Ireland and Israel.
Israel–Jordan relations are the diplomatic, economic and cultural relations between Israel and Jordan. The two countries share a land border, with three border crossings: Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba Crossing, Jordan River Crossing and the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge Crossing, that connects the West Bank with Jordan. The relationship between the two countries is regulated by the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994, which formally ended the state of war that had existed between the two countries since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and also established diplomatic relations, besides other matters. Relations between the countries get strained from time to time, usually over tensions at the Al-Aqsa mosque. On 8 October 2020, Israel and Jordan reached an agreement to allow flights to cross over both countries’ airspace.
Bilateral relations between Australia and Israel, were established in 1949. Australia has an embassy in Tel Aviv and Israel has an embassy in Canberra.
The State of Israel was formally established by the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, and was admitted to the United Nations (UN) as a full member state on 11 May 1949. As of December 2020, it has received diplomatic recognition from 165 of the 193 total UN member states, and also maintains bilateral ties with all of the Permanent Five. 28 member states have either never recognized Israel or have withdrawn their recognition; others have severed diplomatic relations without explicitly withdrawing their recognition. Additionally, many non-recognizing countries have challenged Israel's existence—predominantly those in the Muslim world—due to significant animosity stemming from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Israel–Malaysia relations refers to the commercial and cultural ties between Israel and Malaysia. The two countries currently maintain no formal diplomatic relations. While Malaysia officially maintains an outwardly hostile position towards Israel, commercial relations between the two countries do exist, albeit very limited. Malaysian passports bear the inscription: "This passport is valid for all countries except Israel". Malaysian Passports holders are forbidden to enter Israel without written permission from the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs. The recognition of Israel is a politically delicate issue for the Malaysian government.
Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and calls to refusal of having commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to influence Israel's practices and policies by means of using economic pressure. The specific objective of Israel boycotts varies; the BDS movement calls for boycotts of Israel "until it meets its obligations under international law", and the purpose of the Arab League's boycott of Israel was to prevent Arab states and others to contribute to Israel's economy. Israel believes that boycotts against it are antisemitic.
Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Palestine are close and considered to be cordial. Bangladesh has been a consistent supporter of the Palestinian campaign for an independent state, and has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Furthermore, Bangladesh offers scholarships to young Palestinians, and the two countries co-operate on military affairs.
On December 6, 2017, the United States of America officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of the State of Israel. American president Donald Trump, who signed the presidential proclamation, also ordered the relocation of the American diplomatic mission to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, constituting what is now the Embassy of the United States in Jerusalem, which was established on the grounds of the former Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decision and praised the announcement by the Trump administration. On December 8, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson clarified that Trump's statement "did not indicate any final status for Jerusalem" and "was very clear that the final status, including the borders, would be left to the two parties to negotiate and decide" in reference to the recognition's impact on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process.