Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bahrain

Jewish communal life, Zionist advocacy and Israeli state, security and commercial ties in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bahrain cover the kingdom's small Jewish community, the Zionist and pro-"Israel" organisations active there, and Bahrain's relations with the Zionist entity. Those relations were formalised under the 2020 Abraham Accords despite widespread public opposition and pro-Palestinian sentiment. The connections include embassies, trade agreements and intelligence co-operation. Analysts argue that normalisation has also helped Bahrain's government deflect criticism of its human rights record since the 2011 uprising.

Bahrain has about 50 Jews, most of them in Manama; the 2011 census counted 37. The World Jewish Congress describes it as the only Jewish community in the Persian Gulf. It has one synagogue, the House of Ten Commandments, which was renovated and returned to public use in 2021. It has no resident rabbi and no resident Chabad emissary. The 2020 accords led to several bilateral agreements in technology, health, tourism and security. Trade stayed modest, at $11.5 million in 2023. Security ties include acknowledged co-operation with Mossad. Public protests and parliamentary statements show the tensions, yet the government has kept normalisation in place for strategic gain.

Jewish community and religious life

Jewish Community of the Kingdom of Bahrain

The Jewish Community of the Kingdom of Bahrain is the community's representative body and the Bahraini affiliate of the World Jewish Congress (WJC). Its members are the few Jewish families living in the country. Religious services are held privately, and the community maintains a cemetery. Before 1948 the community numbered almost 600. One Jew was killed in an antisemitic disturbance in 1947. According to the WJC, the synagogue was burned in riots in 1948, after which many Jews emigrated to "Israel". The community is led by Ebrahim David Nonoo, who sat on the Shura Council from 2000 to 2008.

Other notable Bahraini Jews include Nonoo's cousin Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo. She sat in the upper house from 2005 to 2008, and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appointed her ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2013. She was the first Jew in the Arab world to serve as an ambassador. Nancy Khedouri currently sits in parliament.

How far is it Zionist? The community is the WJC's Bahraini affiliate, and it was a founding member of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities in 2021 (see below). Its leader has welcomed normalisation with "Israel". Nonoo told AFP in 2021 that the accords had "opened everything" up. No evidence was found of a direct affiliation to the WZO or the Jewish Agency for Israel, or of fundraising for Israeli causes.

House of Ten Commandments

Bahrain's only synagogue, the House of Ten Commandments (also called the Bahrain Synagogue) in Manama, is affiliated with Modern Orthodox Judaism. AFP dates its destruction to the disturbances of 1947 (the WJC says 1948), and for decades afterwards the community worshipped behind closed doors. It was renovated at a cost of 60,000 Bahraini dinars ($159,000). In August 2021 it held its first Shabbat services in 74 years, attended by expatriate Jews and diplomats. In the same year Nonoo was looking to buy the building next door to set up a yeshiva. There is no rabbi in Bahrain, so rituals such as bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings have to be held abroad.

Association of Gulf Jewish Communities

The Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC) was founded on 15 February 2021 by the Jewish communities of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Its spiritual leader is Rabbi Elie Abadie, who is based in Dubai, and its president is Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo, who is based in Bahrain. It runs a rabbinical court, the Beth Din of Arabia, and the Arabian Kosher Certification Agency. Abadie described the return of public prayer in Manama as "renewing our history in the region". The AGJC is not part of the Chabad movement.

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Bahrain

Chabad has no resident emissary, Chabad house or registered body in Bahrain. Its links with the kingdom have run through visits and through contacts with the royal court. In November 2008 King Hamad invited the Washington-based Chabad rabbi Levi Shemtov to a meeting in New York, where 50 Bahraini Jews living in the United States were told: "It's open, it's your country". In 2016 Rabbi Levi Duchman of Chabad of the United Arab Emirates brought a group of Jewish businessmen to Manama. They were filmed singing songs about rebuilding the Temple at Bab al-Bahrain, which a source told The Times of Israel was "totally unacceptable" to the Bahraini hosts. In 2022 a Chabad delegation led by Shemtov visited Bahrain and met government officials and the commander of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet in Manama. The Chabad-led Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi or community in Bahrain.

Zionist movement and advocacy

American Jewish Committee

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) has run consultations in Bahrain for more than 25 years. They were led by its policy chief Jason Isaacson. AJC gave King Hamad its "Architect of Peace Award" in 2019. In March 2022 the king received an AJC leadership delegation at the Royal Palace, on the same Gulf trip on which AJC opened its Abu Dhabi office.

Simon Wiesenthal Center

The "Kingdom of Bahrain Declaration" on religious tolerance was presented in Los Angeles in September 2017, at an interfaith event co-hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

World Jewish Congress

The local community is the World Jewish Congress's Bahraini affiliate (see above). The WJC's Bahrain page reports a meeting between WJC President Ronald S. Lauder and Bahrain's foreign minister.

No evidence was found of World Zionist Organization or Jewish Agency for Israel activity in Bahrain. The v1 draft's claims about these bodies had no source and have been removed.

Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomatic missions

Embassy of Israel, Manama. "Israel" opened its embassy after Bahrain named its first ambassador in 2021. IDSA cites a Reuters report of 4 September 2023, "Israel Opens Bahrain Embassy, Three Years After Normalising Ties", for the formal opening. Address: Bahrain Financial Harbour – West Tower, Building 1459, Road 4626, Block 346, 28th floor, Manama. Tel. +973 17460500; email info@manama.mfa.gov.il. The ambassador is Shmuel (Sammy) Ravel (spelt Revel in some reports), appointed in 2025. He was previously ambassador to Cyprus (2017–21) and "Israel"'s Ambassador for Energy Affairs (2022–24).

Embassy of Bahrain, Tel Aviv. Bahrain appointed its first ambassador to "Israel" in 2021. The ambassador, Khaled Al Jalahma, was still in post in August 2022. On 2 November 2023 Bahrain's parliament announced the ambassador's recall and a suspension of economic ties. It also declared that "the Zionist entity's ambassador has left from Bahrain, hopefully not to return". The parliament has no power over foreign policy, the Foreign Ministry issued no statement, and Bahrain has not signalled any intention to abandon the accords. No source was found confirming whether Bahrain's ambassador has since returned to Tel Aviv, so the v1 draft's named envoy is no longer given as current.

Abraham Accords and agreements

Under the Abraham Accords declaration, signed on 15 September 2020, the two states agreed to establish full diplomatic relations. On 18 October 2020 they signed a joint communiqué and eight memoranda of understanding. These covered economic and trade co-operation, civil aviation, finance, telecommunications and post, agriculture, foreign-ministry co-operation, visa exemption for diplomats, and chambers of commerce. Further agreements followed: technical co-operation and innovation (1 December 2020), tourism (2 December 2020) and postal exchange (2 March 2021). Bahrain joined the Negev Forum, launched in March 2022 with "Israel", the United States, the UAE, Egypt and Morocco.

Contacts go back before the accords. In 1994 Manama hosted Yossi Sarid, "Israel"'s environment minister, the first visit by an Israeli minister to a Gulf state. Bahrain lifted its primary boycott of Israeli goods in 2005 as a condition of its free trade agreement with the United States. A WikiLeaks cable exposed earlier secret contacts with Mossad.

Security and intelligence

In February 2022 Bahrain and "Israel" signed a memorandum of understanding on security co-operation, the first between "Israel" and a Gulf state. It covers intelligence, military-to-military and industrial co-operation. At the Munich Security Conference that month, a senior Bahraini foreign ministry official confirmed intelligence co-operation between Mossad and Bahrain. In November 2021 Bahrain took part in a Red Sea naval drill with "Israel", the UAE and the United States. According to Giorgio Cafiero, a high-ranking Bahraini official claimed that Mossad and the Shin Bet had been training Bahraini intelligence officers, and that "Israel" had promised to supply drones and anti-drone systems. The claim has not been independently confirmed.

Bahrain hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command, and has done since 1995. In September 2023 it signed the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA) with the United States. It is the only Gulf state in Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea, and analysts note that this aligns with "Israel"'s security objectives.

Surveillance

The Citizen Lab found that nine Bahraini activists had their iPhones hacked with the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware between June 2020 and February 2021. It attributed the operator "with high confidence to the government of Bahrain".

In January 2026 Al-Akhbar reported that an "Israeli-linked intelligence firm", TAM-C Solutions, whose chief executive is Aaron Richman, was hiring Bahrainis "via official channels". Only the article's headline and photo caption could be retrieved. The v1 draft's claims of Mossad or Unit 8200 ties, and of a US registration, are unverified and have been removed.

Trade and investment

Trade between Bahrain and "Israel" was $11.5 million in 2023, down 9 per cent from $12.7 million in 2022. Bahrain's main export to "Israel" is aluminium, and it imports electrical machinery. In January 2025 both sides said they hoped to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of the year.

In August 2022 Start-Up Nation Central, together with Bahrain's embassy in "Israel" and the Bahrain Economic Development Board, presented 15 Israeli startups with the chance to set up regional R&D centres in Bahrain. Bahrain offered low operating costs and labour subsidies. The 13 startups named by the organisers were Papaya Global, SeeTree, H2Pro, Aleph Farms, Beewise, Scopio Labs, C2i Genomics, Monday.com, Addionics, Finteka (from Bank Leumi), Setpoint, TriEye and Minute Media. No evidence was found that any of them has since opened an office in Bahrain.

Opposition and the Gaza war

Public opinion in Bahrain remains overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian. Protests outside the Israeli embassy and statements in parliament put pressure on normalisation. Palestine solidarity protests long predate the accords. On 13 October 2023 crowds protested outside the Palestinian embassy in Manama. The government has allowed small demonstrations, provided that only Bahraini and Palestinian flags are shown. At the Manama Dialogue on 18 November 2023, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa became the first Arab leader to publicly condemn Hamas's actions on 7 October 2023.

See also

• Abraham Accords
• Chabad Lubavitch of Bahrain
• Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
• Zionist movement
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Saudi Arabia
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to the United Arab Emirates
• Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Jordan
• Government of Bahrain

External links

• Embassy of Israel in Bahrain (official site)
• World Jewish Congress: Community in Bahrain
• Association of Gulf Jewish Communities