Manama at night, Bahrain
Manama at night, BahrainiStock

Ebrahim Dahood Nonoo, the head of the Jewish community in Bahrain, praised Friday’s announcement that Israel and Bahrain had reached an agreement to normalize ties between the two countries.

“On this historic occasion of furthering peace in the Middle East, and the joint statement of the United States, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the State of Israel, the Bahraini Jewish Community, congratulates our leadership on this momentous occasion,” he said.

“The Bahraini Jewish Community, is an indigenous community having been in Bahrain since the late 19th century. Although our numbers are small, we are very well integrated into the fabric of the society, both in business and in culture,” added Nonoo.

“The Jewish Community has existed in the Kingdom of Bahrain and is the only indigenous community in the Gulf. We have both a synagogue and a cemetery operational to this day. This is a historic moment that we have never expected to see in our lifetime. We would like to thank His Majesty, King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, for having the foresight to go ahead with this decision and his belief in co-existence and his faith and ability to break down the barriers that restrict cohabitation,” he concluded.

The White House announced earlier on Friday that US President Donald Trump, King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of Bahrain, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Bahrain thus becomes the second Gulf state to normalize ties with Israel, after the UAE and Israel announced they were normalizing relations on August 13.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he was excited to announce a peace agreement with another Arab country - Bahrain.

"It took us 26 years since the second peace agreement with an Arab state to reach a third peace agreement, and it took us not 26 years but 29 days to reach a peace agreement with a fourth Arab state and there will be more," Netanyahu said in video published after the declaration.

Friday’s agreement follows several reports in recent weeks that Bahrain and Israel were working to finalize an agreement to normalize ties between the two countries.

The Bahraini government announced last week that it had accepted a request from the government of the United Arab Emirates to allow flights between the UAE and Israel to cross its airspace.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)