Bahrain Mirror: The Israeli newspapers were concerned about the US-Jewish delegation visit to Bahrain on route to the occupied Jerusalem in a religious trip, for the signs the visit holds in terms of Bahraini authorities' openness to consolidate relations with Israel.

The Israeli "Breaking Israel News"website considered that the North American Jews from the Hampton Synagogue on Long Island made history last week when they embarked on the first ever Jewish delegation to the Gulf state of Bahrain.

The Jewish rabbi Marc Schneier told the Israeli News agency "Tazpit Press" that the delegation met with Bahrain's minister of tourism Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani who encouraged similar future Jewish delegations to visit the country.

When asked how long he thinks it would take for such relations to come about, Schneir quickly responded, "within two years. I have no doubt."

For its part "The Jerusalem Post" covered this event through a report entitled "Could Bahrain be an Up-and-coming Jewish Tourism Destination?"

In a statement to the "The Jerusalem Post" on Thursday (March 1, 2018), i.e. one day after he arrived to the occupied Palestine coming from Bahrain, Schneier said "One of the reasons he chose Bahrain out of the six Gulf states is because it has a historic Jewish community of 37 people with whom he has been in contact for a while."

The Israeli newspaper talked about Schneier's visit to the Bahraini Minister of Commerce and the minister's welcoming stance to the Jewish delegations coming to Bahrain from around the world.

Schneier added that the Jewish Federations, for instance, "are always looking for something intriguing to do before their meetings in Israel, so it would be good to put Bahrain on the map and a way of acknowledging the efforts the [Bahraini] king has made in reaching out to Israel."

In practical terms of making the destination accessible to observant Jews, Schneier said he "planted the seeds" with regards to hotels offering kosher food and restaurants, and to make the synagogue functional and active rather than just a historic site.

On a diplomatic level, Schneier believes that "we are on the cusp of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Gulf - I don't think it's a question of if, I think it's a question of when."

Arabic Version