Judaisation of Manama: An Imminent Threat, Will Bahrain Turn into the Other Palestine?

Exclusive- Undoubtedly, normalization is odious, but the most heinous crime is the fabrication of a new history for the Jews -which was and still unidentified minorities in the most ancient and authentic city of the Persian Gulf, Manama.

This is done to be a competitor to Manama’s authentic identity, in the name of glamorous – hypocritical – slogans such as religious tolerance, which the occupation entity neglects in the occupied territories, especially after adopting a racist law stating that the alleged ‘Israel’ is the “nation-state of the Jewish people” only!

Generating a Jewish neighbourhood in Manama

Occupying Manama, changing its cultural uniqueness and distorting its well-known Shiite identity are the chief goals behind the fabricated Jewish neighborhood.

The project was revealed several months ago and has been re-discussed in the lead up of the so-called ‘Hanukkah celebrations’ starting from December 25 to January 1, in Manama, in the presence of a number of officials at the Zionist entity’s embassy, Bahraini official figures, and Zionist tourists.

Seemingly, within the next two years, the regime will construct a functioning Jewish neighbourhood at the expense of Manama’s Shiite community. According to this project, 40% of the capital’s heritage will be distorted, so that Manama will become the first destination for Zionist tourism in the region.

Bahrain’s supreme spiritual authority has repeatedly warned

The prominent Bahraini religious scholar, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim, has recurrently warned against the unilateral official policies that are empowering the Zionists and domesticating them in Bahrain.

Ayatollah Isa Qassim believes that support for Palestine and enmity towards the occupation expressed by football fans at the World Cup underscores the inevitable failure of the normalisation deal, calling on the Islamic nations to oppose the enemy “which targets our values, interests, and existence.” On Twitter, the cleric warned that Bahrain is being forcibly transformed into a “Jewish society” pointing to planned Hanukkah celebrations in the heart of Manama.

Sheikh Isa Qassim has cautioned Bahrainis about a ‘Judaisation’ plan, which he says is designed to create a Jewish majority, urging them not to sell their land and property to Jews.

“Whoever sells land or a house to the Jews is not selling soil and stone, but rather a homeland, people, a nation, history, and dear sanctities. He is selling Islam,” Sheikh Qassim said, adding that such a move “distorts Bahrain’s history, erases evidence of the indigenous community’s origins, and opens the door for an ‘Israeli’ occupation.”

A brief review on the Zionist presence in Bahrain

Before 2007, it was difficult to obtain information about Bahrain’s Jewish community, except that it numbered no more than 37 people, to the extent that the religious synagogue could not hold prayers because the required quorum of ten adults was not available.

In that year, Bahraini (of Jewish origin) Nancy Khadouri published a book about the life of Jews in Bahrain. Khadouri’s book traces the alleged immigration of Jews to Bahrain. The author sought to show them as an indigenous part of the population, despite the fact that they were immigrants who came to Bahrain at the beginning of the 20^th century until 1947 before they illegally moved to Palestine and settled there.

British documents reveal – in the thirties of the last century – how Bahrain turned into a center for the transfer of Jews from Yemen and other Arab regions to Palestine.

In conjunction with the infamous Balfour Declaration, the documents reveal correspondence between a Russian doctor and the British ambassador to France urging him to occupy Al-Ahsa and Bahrain, and establish the Jewish homeland in the region, promising him to provide an army of 100,000 Jews to carry out this purpose.

At that time, Britain had established its control over the eastern region of the Arabian Peninsula by empowering Bani Saud.

During the ten years following the ominous Balfour Declaration, Al Khalifa granted the Jews privileges, as a Jewish representative was appointed to the Manama Municipal Council, and many of them were granted the right to citizenship. Their number reached, in 1946, about 700 Jews, according to a census conducted by Belgrave.

They were fascinated by life in Bahrain and it was difficult to convince them to move to Palestine.

Therefore, the British administration took advantage, at the time, of the tensions between Hindus and Muslims in Bahrain to harm the Jews and urge them to complete their migration to Palestine, according to what Belgrave revealed.

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa: The Jews’ godfather

In 2008, the current ruler of Bahrain called on ‘the Jews who emigrated from Bahrain after the events of 1947 to return to Bahrain,” promising to re-naturalise them.

This call was followed by the appointment of a member of the Jewish Shura Council, Houda Nonoo, as Bahrain’s ambassador to the US.

Barely a year had passed before a secret embassy for the occupation entity was opened in one of the commercial towers owned by the ruler in the capital.

In the wake of the explicit announcement of normalisation in September 2020, many subtleties emerged, including the king’s warm relationship with the Jewish Rabbi Mark Schneider, who told a Zionist newspaper – in 2018, that is, before the normalization agreements – that he expected “the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and 6 Gulf countries.” That is what actually happened.

‘We are all sons of Abraham,’ king says, adding he intends to visit

Last April, the ruler received a delegation of the so-called “Abrahamic Business Circle” which gifted him with a “Dove of Peace” sculpture by a renowned Zionist sculptor. He told them, “We’ve always had a warm relationship with the Jews,” adding, “I intend to visit Israel.”

Pro-regime pens praising widely-rejected normalisation

Bahrain’s regime normalised ties with Israel in late 2020 as part of the so called Abraham Accords, a series of agreements backed by Washington. Since that time, articles and official statements have repeatedly affirmed the “Jewish right in Bahrain”.

Among what was published was an article that opened with a provocative statement stating that “the Jews have lived in Bahrain since ancient times” and that they refused to convert to Islam “when Muhammad sent an army to occupy the region.”

According to the writer, this means that the Muslims occupied Bahrain by force. Upon such a fabricated scenario, one can expect the upcoming and hazardous political project that this false claim translates into.

Based on this historical presentation, it turns out that the discourse about the alleged ‘Jewish right’ is a made-up myth intended to establish religious and political entities competing with the indigenous entities in Manama, and to have power similar to the status granted by the ruling family to the immigrant Jews during the British tutelage.

Popular normalisation failed

Bahrain’s regime has failed to achieve any significant popular breakthrough in terms of the hysterically accelerating steps of normalisation.

One of these miserable efforts was to win the approval of the influential Bahraini families in order to build partnerships and investment projects with the Zionists, but it was only rejected.

Likewise, it did not work when the regime sought the help of investors and businessmen from the United States on the grounds that they were American Jews and not Israelis.

Nor did the ruling regime succeed in covering up behind the mask of Palestinian investors on the grounds that they are from “48 Arabs” who hold Israeli citizenship.

Hiba Tareef

It has been crystal-clear that the appointment of Hiba Suatirie-Tareef as deputy to the ambassador of the occupying state, Eitan Na’eh, who is from an influential Druze religious family living in Julis, western Galilee, in occupied Palestine, aims to penetrate the Bahraini society.

Tareef is no better person to play this role as for being fluent in the language of the Bahrainis and familiar to their culture, and even from a religious group that resembles theirs.

The Zionists’ recognise the difficulty of legalising normalisation in Bahrain

This was stated by Ibrahim Nonoo, a businessman and chairman of the board of trustees of the “Decal of Commandments Synagogue and the Jewish community in Manama”.

Nonoo is presented as the leader of the Jewish communities in the Gulf, says, “Some Israeli merchants have the desire to invest and create jobs in Bahrain, but we have not seen projects or investments materialised on the ground yet”.

In the aftermath of the Zionist “Jerusalem Post” publishing a statement, in April 2021, regarding negotiations to establish the first Jewish neighbourhood in the UAE, Nonoo revealed that he and the so-called ‘Association of Jewish Communities’ stand behind the project to judaise Manama market, specifically next Sheikh Abdullah Street, which has been the center of the old souk since the 20^th century.

Why the construction such a functioning Jewish neighborhood?

The Jewish quarter project comes as a new attempt to obliterate nearly 40% of Manama’s authentic identity.

The Jewish synagogue was chosen to be its center. A map and signs in Hebrew were placed at the entrance to Bab al-Bahrain – one of the most prominent ancient landmarks in Manama – showing the features of the capital with no Shiite landmark, even the homes of well-known Shiite personalities and elites.

According to some information circulated, some old houses, were bought by some Jews to consolidate their presence and work to create their own geography.

So the beginnings of the project have completed its first phase, which is represented in providing legal cover and allowing the establishment of the first Jewish court in the region, in addition to re-praying in the Jewish synagogue and holding the first Jewish marriage ceremony in it.

Despite its simplicity, Manama’s ‘Haji Café’ has always been a destination for tourists of all walks of life, as it provides popular Bahraini dishes. However, it will soon compete with the Zionist ‘Merchant House’ hotel designed in a way that manifest Jewish culture; banners in Hebrew have been hung on its walls as well as Jewish recitations and songs are played there.

It is mentioned that a Jewish delegation was previously allowed to dance in front of the ‘Bab Al-Bahrain’ and play the Zionist national anthem aka ‘Hatikvah’.

The infamous song says, “As long as deep in the heart, The soul of a Jew yearns, And forward to the East To Zion, an eye looks Our hope will not be lost, The hope of two thousand years, To be a free nation in our land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

The Golden Suspicious Viza

The new laws approved by the government, such as the golden visa and the facilitation of investments with the temporary entity, would facilitate the naturalisation of Jews.

Indeed, Bahrain’s Survey Authority and the Real Estate Registration Authority is currently facilitating this task by suspending building or renovation permits to put pressure Bahraini owners to sell them to the Jews.

This task is undertaken by Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, who recently became president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.

The man has family privileges that qualify him to carry out this task, as he is the brother of the Bahraini Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, one of the most pro-Zionist figures in the ruling family.

Khalifa announce at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year that “the Mossad is present in Bahrain.” In another statement, he brazenly stated that “Israel is part of the region and will remain” and also said, “we are not ashamed of our relationship with Israel.”

Shameless Treachery

Thus, after the regime’s betrayal of Palestine and its people, Manama has effectively turned into a Zionist platform.

It is absolutely impossible to believe that the occupying entity will supply Bahrain with drones and anti-aircraft systems except with the aim of confronting the Iranian and Yemeni forces in the field.

The regime’s reckless policies will further plunge the country into battles that the people of Bahrain disapprove.

The regime has turned the country into military camps and bases for the occupying entity for the sole purpose of preserving their illegitimate thrones, obtaining the support of the Zionist lobby in the United States, and ensuring that this lobby stands as a wall against any Western pressure on it.

The people of Bahrain insist on rejecting normalisation

The Bahrainis’ daily anti-normalisation responses –on ground and on social media- confirm the irrefutable fact that they, with all their Islamic and national affiliations, wholly reject the normalisation project.

These Islamists, leftist and nationalist allies are –on daily basis- expose themselves to the dangers of repression or arrest, while a few brain-washed line up with the regime and its decision to normalize with the nation’s enemy, blindly and without any reservations.

When the Palestinians or the Arabs watch the Bahraini scene these days, and sees the videos, pictures, and honourable courageous stances that challenge the decision of the regime; They should know that these are the same people who came out in 2011 to demand an elected national government that disapproves normalisation and betrayal of Palestine.