Following mediation by Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Bahrain announced, on Wednesday, that it would allow six Israeli media outlets to cover the US-led “Bahrain Workshop,” scheduled for next week.
Bahrain does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel, and, for the first time, allows an Israeli media delegation to enter.
According to Haaretz newspaper, Bahrain agreed to allow the entry of Israeli journalists following the request of the White House staff responsible for the “Deal of the Century,” headed by Kushner, knowing that Haaretz was among Israeli media allowed to cover the Economic ‘Workshop’ in Manama, in order not to “turn it into a political one.”
The Israeli delegation was supposed to be headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, but was suspended after the White House announcement.
On the other hand, the White House invited Israeli businessmen to participate, but their names have yet to be officially published.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday, announced the participation of Israelis in the workshop, without specifying the names of those invited to participate.
“We welcome US initiatives that include regional solutions for a better future,” Netanyahu said. “We have clear and hidden relations with many Arab leaders, and there are wide-ranging relations between Israel and most of the Arab countries.”
According to the PNN, Reuters quoted a source familiar with the list of Israeli invitees as saying that the former coordinator of the Israeli government’s occupation of the occupied territories in 1967, Yoav Mordechai, who currently heads Novard International Consulting, will participate in the economic workshop.
The source added that Mordechai would attend the Manama conference, with his partner, in Novard. The source refused to mention the second man because he had also worked, for a long time, in the Israeli security services.
