Bahrain Mirror- Exclusive: The Times of Israel Newspaper published an article for an Israeli recounting the details of his visit to Bahrain.

Nick Lieber, who moved from the United states to Israel in the summer of 2013, started his narrative saying that "Mossad jokes can be pretty funny, but not so much when you're in a country that publicly considers itself an enemy of Israel, in a region of the world where being accused of being an Israeli agent is oftentimes as good as being sentenced to death."

He then said that his friends thought he was insane after knowing his decision to travel to Bahrain but he didn't care, although he said that he felt quite ill in the hours before boarding the plane.

"It was a great trip. Everybody I encountered was lovely, and really couldn't have cared less that I was Israeli. And yes, they knew," Lieber explained. He further stated that "Because I spent the past year or so reaching out to people throughout the Arab world via social media, I had several virtual friends in Bahrain, as well as in Dammam - the Saudi city about 45 minutes from Bahrain via the King Fahd Causeway bridge - and I told them all I was coming."

He referred to two things, "First, I spent time with a specific subset of Arabs. They were primarily young, well-educated, wealthy, Sunni, and obviously not uber religious - as you'll see from all the drinking. I have no doubt that I would have received a different reception had I had the opportunity to interact with different communities. Second, while I traveled on my American passport, Bahrain is the only country in the Gulf that doesn't automatically deny entry to Israelis.)"

Lieber said that he met Kuwaitis, Bahrainis and Saudis and some of them were drunk too and that a Saudi girl offered to issue me an invitation to visit Saudi Arabia.

A Kuwaiti guy he had been talking to assured him that "Israel was definitely working with Iran and ISIS against the Sunni Arab countries," highlighting that "his response to that was something convincing like: No man, we're on your side."

Another Saudi took him to task because, in his view (the Saudi), the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is heavily armed Israeli soldiers against Palestinians who "just" have stones.

"It was pretty amazing to be able to have these conversations in Bahrain, in a much more civil and respectful way than they are often had in America or Europe," Lieber noted.

He said "Israel came up in other far more unexpected ways as well."

He mentioned that the guide said that Hebrew is the official language of Israel, commenting "Yes, he said Israel. Not Palestine or the Zionist entity or anything like that."

Lieber noted that "And when he mentioned that there aren't any mosques that non-Muslims are forbidden from entering, I brought up the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, expecting he (the guide) would say something negative about Israel," adding "He briefly mentioned a complex security and political situation - though I'm fairly sure that has nothing to do with it - but that was it."

He went on to say that while entering a supermarket, he heard an Israeli song playing over the loudspeaker. "As one can imagine, I spent the next few minutes awkwardly trying to take a video without being too obvious," he stressed.

He continued "There were really only a couple times when I felt scared in Bahrain. This isn't something I would remember. The only reason it stuck in my mind is because I joked to my friend at the time that the sound was Iran coming to snatch me."

"A day or two later, a Jordanian friend texted me asking if I was okay, since there had been an explosion in Bahrain. I hadn't heard anything about it, but after a quick search, I saw that there was indeed a bombing not too far from where we had been sitting," Lieber stated.

He pointed out that "it was a tad disconcerting to be an Israeli near the scene of a terrorist attack, not because I suspected that I was a target, but because I was worried I might be suspected of carrying it out. My Jordanian friend didn't help by joking that it was probably a secret operation and I'm an Israeli spy."

Nick Lieber concluded saying "So what did I learn from this trip other than that I'm unreasonably paranoid and that Arabs like to make Mossad jokes? It's that Arabs willing to have a dialogue with Israelis are out there, and they are not small in number. We just have to engage with them."

Arabic Version