Bahrain Mirror- Exclusive: The New Arab news website said that Israel's ministry of foreign affairs deleted a tweet from its Arabic-language account, perhaps aware that the post would anger Bahrain.

The website indicated that Israel's ministry of foreign affairs appeared to have broken diplomatic protocol on Sunday, when it sent a tweet that was supportive of a rumour that the Bahraini king had "grown tired" of the Arab boycott of Israel.

"Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa denounced the Arab boycott against Israel and has confirmed that Bahraini citizens are now free to visit Israel," the tweet read in Arabic.

The claim was based on an article by the Jerusalem Post that Khalifa had reportedly told a leading US-based rabbi that he had grown tired of the Arab boycott of Israel.

The article published other alleged controversial comments that will likely embarrass the king, including that Bahrainis were free to visit Israel and Manama wanted to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.

Reports of Gulf Arab states normalizing relations with Israel had become prevalent over the past weeks. Last week, reports emerged that a secret meeting was held between a leading Saudi royal and senior Israeli officials in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also confirmed that Israel was enjoying the "greatest relations ever" with the Arab world, even without a peace accord with Palestinians.

Last year, Bahrain hosted a delegation of American Jews at a ceremony to mark the Jewish Hanukkah holiday.

Arabic Version