Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday said there has been no change in Bangladesh's position towards Israel as it still does not recognise Israel.
He said removing the words like valid for travelling except Israel in the new passport does not mean that there has been a change in Bangladesh’s position.
Dr Momen made the remarks when his comment was sought by UNB on media reports in this regard.
The Foreign Minister said the Home Ministry saw many passports of other countries around six months ago when new passports were ordered for Bangladesh.
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Dr Momen said no passport in the world contains such words which is true. "The changes have been made to maintain the global standards," he added.
Passport is a national identity and it does not reflect any foreign policy, said the Foreign Minister.
Earlier, Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted saying Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel.
"Great news! Bangladesh has removed travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step and I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with Israel so both of our peoples could benefit and prosper," he tweeted.
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Bangladesh has ruled out it keeping its position unchanged
The ban on travel of Bangladeshi passport holders to Israel remains unchanged, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement clearing Bangladesh’s position on Israel’s tweet.
The government of Bangladesh has not deviated from its position on Israel and Bangladesh remains firm on its longstanding position in this regard, it said.
It said the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently been drawn to a twitter issued from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel welcoming removal of ban on travel to Israel on E-passports being issued by Bangladesh.
The MoFA said the confusion appears to have emanated from the new booklets of E-passports which does not contain the observation “all countries excepting Israel”.
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, it said.
The government of Bangladesh has condemned the recent atrocities inflicted upon the civilians by the occupation forces of Israel in 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, said the MoFA.