1. Rubana Mussharat
Asian University for Women

2.  Taking interviews from:
 Mr. Joshua D’silva: A member of the Jewish community of
Bangladesh
 Mr. Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury: A Muslim journalist, working
on establishing the religious right of Jews of Bangladesh
 Reviewing:
 Secondary literature
 Newspaper articles
 Challenges:
o No research has been done so far on this topic, so, it was hard to
find relevant literature.
o The information is largely received from the two interviewees
and could not be re-examined.

3.  More than 2,764 Jews live in Bangladesh who are by born
Bangladeshi.
 The origin of them is not found but a number of Jews migrated
from Iraq and Iran to Bangladesh in the nineteenth century.
 They did not migrate from Israel. According to the interviewees,
they are local people converted to Judaism long before Islam and
Christianity came to this land.
 Reside in: Dhaka, Mymensing, Jessore, Rangpur, Manikganj,
Khulna, Chittagong hill Tracks
 Mainly Orthodox and a few are reformed
 Engaged in textile business and groceries

4.  The Jews of Bangladesh are not recognized by the Bangladesh
government.
 They live in extreme secrecy as they are in constant fear of
persecution due to the anti-Israeli sentiment prevailed among
the population of Bangladesh.
 They live under Christian identity and call themselves ‘Jehova’s
Witness’, a recent sect of Christianity, originated in US.
 They are buried in Christian cemetery so that the identity of
the deceased is not revealed.

5.  They do not join in social sites as ‘Facebook’ for the
fear of getting caught.
 They have to compromise with their daily Jewish
practices. For example, they have to work in Sabbath
and cannot properly maintain the strict dietary laws
of Kosher.
 They do not have a synagogue in Bangladesh. The
only synagogue they had was taken by the
government prior to independence, and now is used
as a government office.
 They have to go to Kolkata in order to get married or
convert.

6.  Bangladesh government denies the existence of any Jewish population
living in Bangladesh
 Israel is an enemy state of Bangladesh. Therefore, Anti-Israeli stand of
the government and its people resulted in anti-Jewish sentiment in
general.
 As a Muslim majority country, Bangladeshis are generally sympathetic to
Palestine. The media covers only the news in support to Palestine and
the majority people do not have the regular access to internet. So, as
the ‘innocent’ Palestinians are repressed by the Jewish state Israel, so
the Jews are viewed negatively. Jews are demonized because of their
relationship with Israel, not the other way around.
 Hostility towards Jews: A Jewess was raped by an Imam in 2005 in
Chittagong. He justified his action by calling it a religious duty, as the
girl was Jewish. Although the Imam was arrested and sent to prison, but
the family of the girl had to leave Bangladesh after the event.

7.  Took various turns over the last forty years.
 Jordan, Turkey and Egypt maintain full diplomatic and trade relationship with
Israel.
 All the Arab and Gulf nations except Iran, hold strong economic ties with Israel.
 All the ex-Soviet republics have both diplomatic and economic relationship with
Israel.
 Malaysia and Indonesia do not recognize Israel but hold trade relationship with it.
 Palestine made $2 billion worth of business transition with Israel in 2004 and
Palestine signed a trade agreement with Israel in 1994.
 A few countries were alleged to have secret ties with Israel in different times.
For example, Jordan before establishing a full diplomatic relationship, Iran in the
time of Shah, and according to the Indian scholar P. R. Kumaraswamy Pakistan in
different regimes and governments.

8.  Israel recognized Bangladesh on 4th February
1972 but Bangladesh refused it and declared
Israel an enemy state in stead.
 Any Bangladeshi citizen trying to travel to
Israel is considered as an offense to the
country.
 From the statement made by the foreign
minister of Bangladesh in 2010, Bangladesh
has no plan to establish any sort of
relationship with Israel and supports the
rightful struggle of the Palestinians.

9.  Bangladesh had to prove its sentiment towards the Islamic brotherhood after its
independence, as it was established by breaking the largest Muslim country of that
time.
 As a newly found state, Bangladesh had to establish its relationship with other
Muslim countries as the majority of its population is Muslim.
 Bangladesh had to establish the economic and diplomatic relationship with the oil-
rich Arab nations as it needed their money to re-construct its economy.
 As a newly independent state, Bangladesh needed the recognition from other
countries and the decision of refusing the recognition from Israel helped
Bangladesh to receive recognition from all the Muslim countries including Pakistan.
 With the support from the other Muslim countries, in a short period of time,
Bangladesh received membership from OIC, NAM and UN.
 Bangladesh has received large amount of loans and aids from the Muslim countries
over years.
 Bangladesh has a large labor market in the middle-east and Malaysia. So,
Bangladesh does not want to jeopardize the economy by establishing any sort of
relationship with Israel.

10.  If Bangladesh government recognizes the Jews in Bangladesh, then it is less likely
that they will come out of their cocoon instantly, as the general perception of the
people is still negative towards Jews for the issue of Israel.
 The negative view of the people has to be changed. They must be educated that,
neither all the Israelis are Jews nor all the Jews are Israelis.
 The media can play a vital role by portraying the unbiased nature of the
relationship of Israel with other Muslim countries.
 Even if any diplomatic relationship is not established with Israel, at least
Bangladesh can establish a trade relationship. If it happens then:
 It will help people to change their perception towards Israel to a large extent as
they will be more open to talk about the events of the Middle East and be able to
gain a closer view of the situation.
 If the people of Israel are not considered as the source of Israel, then the
stereotypes regarding the Jewish population in Bangladesh are bound to be
changed.
 If Bangladesh establish a trade relationship with Israel, then it is less likely that the
labor market in the Middle East and Malaysia will be hampered. For instance: all
the Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia hold trade relationship with Israel.

11.  The situation of the Jewish population of Bangladesh is
a clear and strict violation of human rights.
 Bangladesh does not need to establish a full diplomatic
relationship with Israel if it is really supportive to the
struggle of the Palestinians out of morality.
 A trade relationship can at least change the current
perception of enmity towards Israel which will benefit
both Bangladesh and Israel for mutual economic and
political advantages.
 A trade relationship can possibly dismantle the
stereotypes of the Bangladeshi citizens regarding Jews
and Israel which will be greatly helpful for the Jewish
population of Bangladesh to retrieve their religious and
civil rights.

12.  Ali, Syed Muazzem. 2006, ‘Bangladesh and the OIC’ The Daily star,
viewed 13 December, 2011
<http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2006/15thanniv/bangl
adesh&theworld/bd_world21.htm>
 Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. 2011, U.S Department of States
viewed 25 December, 2011
<http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm>
 Choudhury, Salah Uddin Shoaib. 2009, ‘All about Jews in
Bangladesh’ Modern Ghana, viewed 16 December, 2011 <
http://www.modernghana.com/news/239045/1/all-about-jews-
in-bangladesh.html (accessed December 25, 2011)>
 Choudhury, Salah Uddin Shoaib. 2008, ‘Why Bangladesh continues
travel ban on Israel’ American chronicle, viewed 25 December,
2011 <http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/59933>
 Fernandes, Edna. 2008, The Last Jews of Kerala, New York:
Skyhorse Publishing.

13.  Habib, Mohshin. 2011, ‘A Story of Israel Hatred" Hudson New York, viewed 25
December, 2011 <http://www.hudson-ny.org/2613/bangladesh-israel-hatred>
 Huleileh, Samir, Gil Feiler, Gershon Baskin, and Zakaria al Qaq. 1998, ‘Guidelines
for Final Status Economic Negotiations Between Israel and Palestine’ Law &
Development Program: COMMERCIAL LAW REPORT SERIES, viewed 25 December,
2011 <http://www.ipcri.org/files/economic-negotiations.html>
 Hussain, Ahmede. 2009, ‘Giving Recognition’ Star Weekend magazine, viewed 18
December, 2011
<http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2009/08/04/current_affairs.htm>
 Jewish Virtual Library. 2011, The Ten Commandments, American-Israeli Cooperative
Enterprise, viewed 25 December, 2011
<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/command.html>
 Jewish Virtual Library. 2011, Israeli Cooperation with Arab Countries, American-
Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, viewed 25 December, 2011
<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Politics/Arabs.html>

14.  Letchumanan, A. 2011, ‘KL, Dhaka to register 500,000 Bangladeshi workers’ The
Star online, viewed December 17, 2011
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/30/nation/8998809&sec=nat
ion>
 Neuberger, Benyamin. 2009, ‘Israel’s Relations with the Third World (1948–
2008)’ The S. Daniel Abraham Center pp. 15-28, viewed 18 December, 2011
<http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/abraham/publications/israel.pdf>
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25 December, 2011 <
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=185122>
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Chamber of Commerce, viewed 25 December, 2011 <http://israel-indonesia-
coc.org/background-articles/muslim-countries-trade-with-israel/>
 Zetler, David. 2011, ‘Bangladesh – with Jewish connections’, The Jerusalem Post
viewed 25 December, 2011
<http://www.jpost.com/Travel/TravelNews/Article.aspx?id=217443>