Bahrain's Ambassador-designate to Israel, Khaled Yousef Al-Jalahma, paid a visit to a synagogue in the Bahraini capital of Manama this week.

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Al-Jalahma visit to the House of the Ten Commandments Synagogue was accompanied by President of the Board of Trustees of the Synagogue and the Jewish Community Ibrahim Daood Nonoo.

Al-Jalahma expressed pride to have visited the house of worship and stressed that the Kingdom of Bahrain "has become an example in promoting the concept of a culture of peace, freedom of religions and beliefs and peaceful coexistence."

Such values, he added, were key to "the authentic Bahraini approach led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and made of the Kingdom an oasis of peace, security and harmony."

He praised "the tangible role and contributions of the Jewish community to the comprehensive development process in the Kingdom of Bahrain."

Bahrain normalized the ties with Israel last year as part of the historic US-brokered Abraham Accords, which also included the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan and Morocco.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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A prominent Saudi prince harshly criticized Israel on Sunday at a Bahrain security summit that was remotely attended by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

The fiery remarks by Prince Turki al-Faisal at the Manama Dialogue appeared to catch Ashkenazi off guard, particularly as Israelis receive warm welcomes from officials in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates following agreements to normalize ties.

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Left unresolved by those deals, however, is the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians view those pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause.

Prince Turki opened his remarks by contrasting what he described as Israel's perception of being "peace-loving upholders of high moral principles" versus what he described as a far-darker Palestinian reality of living under a "Western colonizing" power.

Israel has "incarcerated [Palestinians] in concentration camps under the flimsiest of security accusations – young and old, women and men, who are rotting there without recourse to justice," Prince Turki said. "They are demolishing homes as they wish, and they assassinate whomever they want."

The prince also criticized Israel's undeclared arsenal of nuclear weapons and Israeli governments "unleashing their political minions and their media outlets from other countries to denigrate and demonize Saudi Arabia."

The prince reiterated the kingdom's official position that the solution lies in implementing the Arab Peace Initiative, a 2002 Saudi-sponsored deal that offers Israel full ties with all Arab states in return for Palestinian statehood.

He added: "You cannot treat an open wound with palliatives and pain killers"

Ashkenazi, who spoke immediately after Prince Turki, said, "I would like to express my regret on the comments of the Saudi representative."

"I don't believe that they reflect the spirit and the changes taking place in the Middle East," he said.

The confrontation and a later back-and-forth between Prince Turki and a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the summit highlighted continued widespread opposition to Israel by many inside Saudi Arabia, despite some state-backed efforts to promote outreach with Jewish groups and supporters of Israel.

Ashkenazi, meanwhile, reiterated Israel's position that it is the Palestinians who are to be blamed for not reaching a peace deal.

"We have a choice here with the Palestinians whether to solve it or not or to go to this blame game," said Ashkenazi, an ally of Netanyahu's chief political rival, Benny Gantz.

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs President Dore Gold and former director-general of the Foreign Ministry implied Prince Faisal's remarks were "accusations of the past – many of which are false."

"Shifts in how we look at the Middle East, given the emotions our countries have been through, are very difficult. I turn to Prince Turki al Faisal because I believe he comes from a country that has the ability to lead the region in a very positive direction. But we have to decide. Do we want to be caught up in the accusations of the past, many of which are false, or do we want to present the younger generation in the Middle East with a positive vision and really give leadership a better future? I prefer the latter. And I know my national leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, prefers the latter," he said.

The prince later brought up Gold's previous television appearances "denigrating the kingdom and using the most vile descriptions."

Gold is the author of a book titled "Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism."

"I think Mr. Dore Gold should be the last one to talk about having previous beliefs and positions here," the prince said.

Prince Turki led Saudi intelligence for more than 20 years and served as ambassador to the US and UK. Though he now holds no official position, his stance is seen as closely mirroring that of King Salman. However, the king's assertive son, the 35-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is seen as having a greater willingness to quietly engage with Israel to counter common threat, Iran, and boost foreign investment in the kingdom.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, also on stage for the tense exchanges, sought to smooth over the differences in his remarks. Still, he too stressed the importance of a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on a two-state solution as envisaged by the Arab Peace Initiative.

"The path of peace is not an easy ride. There will be a lot of obstacles along the way," he said. "There will be ups and downs. But the bedrock of that path, the path of peace, is the Israeli-Palestinian issue."

In an apparent reference to Iran, al-Zayani added that a resolution to the conflict would also remove the pretext to justify some of the threats made to regional security.

After the session, the Saudi prince asked Gold if he had changed his mind about Saudi Arabia. Gold replied that he had because Riyadh had stopped giving aid to Hamas. "Saudi Arabia is a very important country in the Middle East," he said.

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The maritime workshop in Manama is the continuation of a Middle East conference held in Warsaw in February that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the time called a "historical turning point" for an alliance against Tehran.

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Dana Benvenisti, head of the Foreign Ministry's counterterrorism department, attended the Manama gathering in a rare visit by an Israeli official to Bahrain.

The United States is trying to build a global maritime coalition to secure vital trade channels following attacks on tankers in Gulf waters in May and June that Washington has blamed on Iran, a charge Tehran denies.

Tensions have risen since President Donald Trump last year withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between world powers and Iran under which it agreed to curbs on its disputed nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Washington has since reimposed a panoply of sanctions meant to strangle Iran's vital oil exports, and Tehran in turn has scaled back on commitments under the deal to restrict its uranium enrichment program.

"Aviation and maritime security are at top of the policy agenda in the region," Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told the opening of the Maritime and Aviation Security Working Group.

In April, a group of Israeli businessmen and government officials canceled a planned visit to an economic conference in Manama due to what organizers said were "security concerns," following a social media campaign by Bahraini opponents of the visit.

In June, Bahrain hosted a "Peace to Prosperity" workshop meant to encourage investment in the Palestinian territories as the first part of a broader White House political plan to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last year, Oman hosted Netanyahu on a surprise trip, the first time an Israeli leader had visited the sultanate in 22 years. Foreign Minister Israel Katz subsequently visited the United Arab Emirates to attend a UN climate summit.

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