Bahrain Mirror: Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that "no notification or decision has been received from the Bahraini government or the Israeli government to recall the countries' ambassadors."

"The relations between Israel and Bahrain are stable," the Israeli ministry said in a statement on Thursday, November 2, 2023.

It pointed out that the issuance of this decision by the House of Representatives and not the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs likely indicates that this step aims to "calm the Bahraini public opinion" regarding the official stance on the aggression on Gaza. 

However, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid denied the news of the departure of the Israeli ambassador in Manama and the return of the Bahraini ambassador from Tel Aviv.

"A Bahraini official tells me the Bahraini ambassador to Israel hasn't been recalled and there is no change to the relations," Ravid said via a post on "X" platform.

The Bahraini House of Representatives said on Thursday that the Israeli ambassador in Manama left and claimed that it has recalled the Bahraini ambassador from Tel Aviv.

In the same context, the former Secretary-General of the National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad), Ibrahim Sharif, said that "such an announcement about the departure of what he dubbed the ambassador of the dirty [Israel], the return of our (Bahraini) ambassador and the suspension of economic relations should have been issued by the government by a decision of a binding nature."

"What does the word departure of the Zionist ambassador or the return of the Bahraini ambassador mean? Was this done as a protest measure, and if so, why is there no statement from the responsible body: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" he wondered.

"Can MPs explain the meaning of suspending economic relations in the same week that Bahrain exported a shipment of oil products to the usurping entity?"

Abdulhakim Sobhi, a leader in the Gathering of National Unity, described the House of Representatives' statement as a "confused stance," explaining that "the normalization announcement came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the House of Representatives' announcement is not from a competent party and it is not clear whether it is to cut off the relationship or freeze the relationship that was originally frozen because of the war (on Gaza)."

Sheikh Hussein Al-Daihi, deputy secretary-general of the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, said in an interview with Al-Ahed news website: "It is absolutely out of the question for the authority in Bahrain to cancel normalization, as it considers it a strategic choice to maintain its security, authority and tyranny, but it is a failing bet and a reliance on a fleeting entity that will soon disappear along with all its sponsors and supporters."

Arabic Version