Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): There isn't a big margin for craftiness regarding the invitation given out to Israeli Economy Minister Eli Cohen to participate in the entrepreneurship congress hosted by Bahrain mid this month. The government denied, confirming the matter.

As host of the event, Bahrain has invited all UN member states except Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, Taiwan, Iran and Qatar, the government said in a statement.

This paragraph clearly indicates that the one who sent the official invitations to all the participants in the congress is the government and not Tamkeen Fund. Why would the fund be responsible for sending the invitation to the Israeli participants only?

The government's way out of this scandal was ridiculous when it said that the organizers have the right to send invitations to any state, and the obvious question is: isn't Tamkeen an official institution whose board of directors are appointed by the king himself? Isn't it supposed to be bound like other bodies to follow the state's policies with regards to its foreign relations? What if the Fund had invited Qatar or Iran, for instance, to take part in the congress?

The government chose to normalize relations with Israel in private yet boycott it in public. However, this was not accepted by Israel, as a Zionist official had announced in November 2018 that the Israeli Economy Minister received an official invitation to visit Bahrain to take part in the congress.

"I myself received a personal invitation to Bahrain," Israeli Economy Minister Eli Cohen said in a radio interview.

Cohen told Army Radio the invitation was to a conference in the first quarter of 2019 "in the realm of technology and high-tech, in which the State of Israel is certainly a leader".

An Israeli official briefed on Cohen's affairs said the event to which he had been invited was the Startup Nations Ministerial conference on April 15, a forum for public policymakers to discuss how to promote entrepreneurs.

The official, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, said the invitation originated with the Manama government and was relayed to Israel by Switzerland.

Every time Israel discloses what happens behind the scenes and doesn't leave space for its allies from the ruling family to make a move. This is not the first time Israel disclosed the Bahraini amiability towards it. The office of PM Benjamin Netanyahu leaked statements by the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs that were supposed to be private.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, downgraded during a private seminar on the sidelines of the Warsaw conference last February, the risk presented by Israel on the security of the region and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict compared to what he named the challenge coming from Iran.

Head of Hatnua party and former Israeli FM, Tzipi Livni, criticized the leakage of the video, saying that Netanyahu is risking relations with Arab states for political reasons.

"I have been holding silent communications with Arab leaders whom we don't have diplomatic ties with and I didn't publish any of these meetings," she noted.

If the government does not want to respond to the popular demands of non-normalization with Israel, it must ask its friend Tel Aviv to respect it a little and not to broadcast intimate encounters that take place in the closed rooms, which is supported by Levni, who was establishing a "silent relationship" with some leaders.

Arabic Version