Bahraini Scholars Slam Zionist Delegation Visit to Manama
The delegation is in the Persian Gulf Arab country to attend a Fifa conference on Thursday.
The statement said that by hosting the Zionist delegation, the Al Khalifa regime has separated its way from that of the people and their views on issues like the cause of Palestine, al-Manar reported.
In a separate joint statement on Monday, 12 Bahraini-based human rights institutions also censured the visit.
They said that the Bahraini rulers were hosting the delegation at a time when the Tel Aviv regime is persistently trampling upon the rights, integrity, and the lives of the Palestinian people.
They further censured the abusive treatment of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli regime authorities. They said Tel Aviv was also violating international laws and human rights by attempting to break the resolve of the Palestinian inmates by force-feeding them.
In their statement, the Bahraini-based rights groups also called on the leadership of regional countries not to forget or undermine the Palestinian issue.
Barring Jordan and Egypt, which have open, diplomatic relations with the Tel Aviv regime, Arab governments claim that they do not recognize Israel. They say they would normalize relations with the Tel Aviv regime only when it reaches a deal with the Palestinians, whose lands the Israeli regime has occupied.
However, there have been numerous reports and public statements indicating that there are covert ties between the Arab governments and Israel.
In mid-March last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his regime’s relations with regional Arab countries was "dramatically warming.” Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s minister of military affairs, also in February 2016 pointed to open channels between the regime and Arab states.
Bahrain’s official stance of not recognizing Israel means that Israeli individuals cannot normally obtain visas to the Arab country.
