Bahrain's Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
Bahrain’s foreign minister gave an unprecedented interview to an Israeli television channel, calling for open communication with the Jewish state.
By World Israel News and AP
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, spoke to Israel’s Channel 13 on the sidelines of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace conference in Manama, Bahrain.
Al Khalifa said that “Israel is part of this heritage of this whole region, historically. So, the Jewish people have a place amongst us.”
The Bahraini foreign minister also voiced support for Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in neighboring Syria, saying “every country has a right to defend itself.”
He called Iran a “major threat to the stability and the security of the region,” and said Iran’s support for terror groups has hindered Arab-Israeli peace efforts.
Earlier in the day, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated outside a United Nations compound in the Gaza Strip to protest the White House-led Mideast peace conference in Bahrain, which is specifically designed to improve their economic plight.
The demonstrators gathered Wednesday, raising a black coffin that read “Bahrain conference to hell.”
Palestinians burned effigies of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protesters specifically called out Trump senior adviser, Jared Kushner, chanting “Kushner, Palestine is not for sale.”
Kushner is spearheading the $50 billion U.S. economic plan for the Palestinians, whose leaders have met the proposal with scorn.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri also said his government is opposed to the Trump administration’s Mideast plan. Lebanese politics are heavily influenced by Iranian-controlled Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah, which controls swaths of Lebanon’s government.
Hariri added he was against the naturalization of Palestinians living in Lebanon, most of whom have either been there for decades or were born there.
Lebanese officials have blasted the Trump administration’s $50 billion investment proposal that comes as part of a Middle East peace plan.
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