Bahrain to allow citizens to visit Israel

Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa is tired of the Arab boycott of Israel, adding that citizens of his country are free to visit the country, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Israeli newspaper said that this statement was revealed at a multi-national event held last week in Los Angeles and hosted by the city’s Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

King Hamad made the remarks during a visit by the Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, who head the Wiesenthal Centre, to Manama in early 2017, the rabbis revealed.

Israeli newspaper Maariv said that the two rabbis had discussed establishing a religious tolerance museum in Bahrain.

Read: Bahrain-Israel links ‘go back to 1994’

After the report published by Jerusalem Post, the official account of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Arabic tweeted: “Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa denounced the Arab boycott against Israel and has confirmed that Bahraini citizens are now free to visit #Israel.”

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said moments later and the tweet was deleted, perhaps aware that the post would anger Bahrain.

Bahrainis are banned from travelling to Israel while Israeli passport holders are permitted entry into the Gulf state.

Quds Press reported Maariv saying that the Bahraini King’s remarks came less than a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Tel Aviv’s relationship with some Arab states.

“What is being done with the Arabs is unprecedented in our history even when we signed peace treaties,” Netanyahu said. “Operationally, cooperation is being done in different ways and at several levels, but it did not reach the stage to be explicit.”