Bahrain Invites Zionist Official to Anti-Iran Forum

Date: 20 October 2019 - 21:36

News ID: ۷۱۹۰۰

DUBAI (Dispatches) -- A senior official of the occupying regime of Israel is set to attend a conference in Bahrain on Monday to discuss Iran in the context of growing tensions in Persian Gulf waters, Zionist media reported on Sunday.
According to the Times of Israel, a Bahraini source confirmed that a senior foreign ministry official would represent the Zionist regime during the two-day event entitled: "Working Group on Maritime and Aviation Security."
The newspaper did not reveal the identity of the official, in compliance with an Israeli military censor decree.
The meeting, to be held in Manama, is the latest event of the so-called Warsaw Process, named after the Polish capital where a U.S.-backed conference on Middle East security was held in February.
Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu, along with a number of Arab officials, was in attendance at the Warsaw summit.
The occupying regime of Israel’s officials have attended a number of follow-up events, including in South Korea and the United States, all focused on Iran.
When contacted by Israeli news outlets to confirm the presence of the official at the Bahrain conference, the foreign ministry simply confirmed: "Israel participates in the post-Warsaw process."
Diplomatic relations with the Zionist regime had usually been kept secret in the past due to the Arab League's boycott over the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but Israeli attendance at the Bahrain event marks the latest public showing of warming ties between the occupying regime and Persian Gulf Arab states in recent years.
In June, Bahrain hosted a workshop in which the economic part of President Donald Trump’s infamous the "deal of the century” plan was unveiled.
The so-called "deal of the century" has been on the receiving end of scathing criticism for overwhelmingly catering to Israeli interests, while not addressing Palestinian demands for statehood and sovereignty.
Starting on Monday, the Manama summit is set to purportedly discuss the protection of vessels in the Persian Gulf from alleged "Iranian attacks," the prevention of weapons smuggling and the protection of civil aviation.
On July 31, Bahrain where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based hosted a conference on "maritime security” in the Persian Gulf, after a number of mysterious attacks in the strategic waters, which Washington has blamed on Iran, without offering any credible evidence.
Iran has blasted Bahrain for hosting "suspicious and provocative meetings," calling on the regime in Manama to stop acting as "a facilitator of enemy plots” in the region.
On Sunday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem hit out at Bahrain’s decision to host the Zionist official, saying attempts to "integrate the Israeli Occupation into the region are doomed to fail.”
The occupying regime of Israel has full diplomatic ties with only two Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, but recent reports suggest Tel Aviv has been working behind the scenes to establish formal contacts with other Arab countries such as Bahrain.
In July, Israeli and Bahraini foreign ministers Israel Katz and Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah met for a brief chat on Iran in Washington and the two posed for a rare photograph.