Bahrain Mirror-Exclusive: Middle East Monitor website stated that the latest comments by Benjamin Netanyahu about relationships with a number of Arab countries highlight the links between Bahrain and Israel, which "go back to 1994", Al-sharq.com said on Friday.

It said that the secret relationship started when former Israeli Environment Minister Yossi Sarid met with Bahrain's Foreign Minister, Mohamed Ben Al-Mubarak, and Health Minister Jawad Al-Arid. The three agreed that Israel could open a representative office in Manama.

In 2009, the late Israeli President Shimon Peres and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with the King of Bahrain in New York on the fringe of a religious dialogue conference. Last year, American rabbi Marc Schneier visited Manama on a mission to reinforce relations between Israel and Bahrain.

According to Al-Sharq.com, the call by Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa to establish a Middle Eastern body that includes Israel, Iran and Turkey, is evidence of the "golden relationship" with Israel. When Peres died a year ago, the minister issued a tweet which hailed the Israeli politician.

The website indicated that the Qatari newspaper also pointed out that "Bahrain had violated an Arab League resolution which bans commercial deals with Israel, companies which have relations with Israel and companies which deal with other firms that maintain relations with Israel".

It is to mention that Bahrain Mirror had already published infographic about Bahraini-Israeli relations in which it reviewed the Bahraini-Israeli meetings since 1994 until 2016.

Arabic Version