Rising Islamist extremism in Bangladesh threatens global stability: Report

Tel Aviv, Dec 29 Bangladesh's drift towards Islamist extremism enabled by complacency is not merely a distant domestic concern but a strategic warning with potential repercussions that could spill onto European streets and target Israeli and Jewish communities worldwide if left unaddressed, a report detailed on Monday.

"For years, Bangladesh was treated by Western policymakers as a peripheral concern in the global fight against Islamist extremism — too distant, too inward-looking, too preoccupied with domestic politics to matter strategically. That illusion is collapsing under the 'interim' regime of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus," Sergio Restelli, an Italian political advisor, author and geopolitical expert, wrote in 'Times of Israel'.

According to Restelli, the recent incident of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das, who was killed in mob lynching in Bangladesh amid religious incitement, with inaction from law enforcement is not an aberration, but a reflection of a deeper and more dangerous transformation unfolding inside one of the world's most populous Muslim-majority states.

"Bangladesh is undergoing a visible Islamist drift marked by mob violence, intimidation of minorities, silencing of secular voices, and the normalisation of religious vigilantism. These developments are often framed as internal law-and-order failures by Yunus, who took over once a Muslim brotherhood backed student coup deposed democratically elected Sheikh Hasina. In reality, they represent the growth of an ideological ecosystem that does not stop at Bangladesh's borders — and one that increasingly intersects with global jihadist narratives hostile to the West and obsessively fixated on Israel," the expert detailed.

The brutal killing of Das, the report stressed, not only exposed the vulnerability of Bangladesh's Hindu minority but also reflected how religious violence is gaining social legitimacy.

"Lynching is not spontaneous; it requires moral permission. When mobs act in the name of religious righteousness and face weak consequences, extremism migrates from the margins to the mainstream. That shift is what should alarm Israeli and European security planners alike," it mentioned.

The report highlighted that when religious minorities are killed with impunity, when mob violence is legitimised, and when Islamist rhetoric links local grievance with global hatred, the consequences transcend national borders.

"What begins as persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh can, over time, translate into radicalisation pipelines affecting European cities—and ultimately Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide," it noted

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