The recognition of Palestine as a state by some major Western powers, including the  UK  and  France , has come so late that many would argue these nations also bear some responsibilities for the thousands of preventable deaths that have occurred in Gaza. Yet, US President Donald Trump, the most powerful man on Earth, believes the recognition of a Palestinian state by key allies is effectively rewarding Hamas for its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the war. According to White House Press Secretary  Karoline Leavitt , "Frankly, he believes it's a reward to Hamas." President Trump repeated the  same diatribe  against its allies that have independently announced recognition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly's 80th session. Shockingly, it's not just President Trump, who earlier this year shockingly proposed to convert Gaza into "the Riviera of the Middle East"; many leading media houses, particularly in Britain, also echo...

When the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported that Israeli cybersecurity companies sold spyware systems to Bangladesh – a country that does not recognise Israel – the response from our government was that it had not bought the systems “directly” from Israel. Haaretz didn’t say it either, but revealed details of the technology and the identities of the owning company and its intermediaries spread in three countries: Cyprus, Switzerland and Singapore. Just one day after this revelation, on January 12, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan told MPs that the government has taken initiative to introduce an Integrated Lawful Interception System (ILIS) to monitor social media and thwart various anti-state and anti-government activities.  First came a non-denial of the fact that the government agencies have indeed procured highly sophisticated Israeli technology, which many experts describe as a surveillance weapon; then a confirmation of the existence of an integrated interception system, which ...

What the Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said on May 20 about his ministry's predicament is nothing unique. Expressing his regret about   Prothom Alo   journalist Rozina Islam's arrest, he said, "As foreign ministry, we have to face questions over this." Dropping the words "except Israel" from the declaration of validity of the Bangladesh passport, too, made him and his ministry face questions that are quite intriguing and not so easy to brush aside. The BBC Bangla on May 24 reported that following the publication of the news, the foreign minister called Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and was told that the decision had been taken six months before. It indicates that this was done without any assessment of any political fallout or legal consequences. Despite his assertion that "there has been no change in Bangladesh's position towards Israel as it still does not recognise Israel," the unintended consequences of the controversial change are...