Bahrain Mirror: Rabbi Marc Schneier led 17 congregants on a three-day trip to Bahrain this week- believed to be the first such Jewish congregational mission to any Arab Gulf state.

Rabbi Schneier, spiritual leader of New York base "The Hampton Synagogue", who organized the trip, said the Jews in Bahrain were "excited about the opportunity to welcome Jews," adding that he wants "to open a new frontier for the Jewish people".

The rabbi put on his page online photos of Manama besides Jerusalem in a religious touristic trip ad-like form, calling on his audience to book this trip that he described as a historic journey of a lifetime, as they will spend 3 days in Bahrain and 5 in occupied Palestine

The trip included celebrating the Purim holiday in the occupied Jerusalem.

The "Jewish Week" related to the Israeli Times newspaper said this visit was merger of "Schneier" synagogue activism and his work in fostering Jewish-Muslim relations.

Schneier reiterated that the motive behind his activism is normalizing relations between the occupied entity and Gulf States.  

Rabbi Schneier, in a phone call from Bahrain Monday (February 26, 2018), told The Jewish Week that his group toured the country's only synagogue, adding that among those greeting them from the Jewish community were a former ambassador of Bahrain to the United States, Huda Nonoo, a current member of the country's parliament, Nancy Khedouri, and community leader Michael Yadgar.

The rabbi said his work as a founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which seeks to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations, first brought him to Bahrain and a meeting with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the royal family in December 2011.

"I was the first rabbi in the palace...The king was the first leader of the six Gulf states to openly criticize Iran for its extremist and fundamentalist ways in terms of exporting terrorism," he further stated.

The rabbi revealed in his statement that Bahrain's king "successfully led the effort to get all six Gulf States to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization."

He also considered that "Bahrain will be the first of the Gulf states to establish diplomatic relations with Israel," disclosing that the king said to him two years ago that "his greatest hope for a strong moderate Arab voice in the Gulf is a strong Israel."

Rabbi Schneier said an "objective of our mission is to inspire other synagogues and Jewish organizations around the world to come to Bahrain and visit the Jewish community and say thank you to the king for being so progressive, promoting inter-religious dialogue and cooperation and support for Israel."

The group, the rabbi said, met with the minister of tourism for the Gulf and he invited other American Jews to come.

He stated "I think as Bahrain begins to grow as a great financial center in the Gulf, you will see more Jews using it as a professional and business hub."

Arabic Version