Appointment of Israeli Officer An Attack on Bahrain’s Sovereignty: Al-Wefaq

Bahrain's foreign ministry confirmed media reports that an Israeli officer would be stationed in the tiny Persian Gulf country, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, in a statement released on Saturday, adding that the appointment would be related to the work of an international coalition of more than 34 countries.

The coalition's task, according to the statement, includes ensuring freedom of navigation in the region's territorial waters, protecting international trade, and combating piracy and terrorism.

In a series of tweets on its official Twitter account, al-Wefaq, which has been banned by Manama since 2016, slammed the nomination, saying it "is a national and political downfall and an attack on Bahrain's sovereignty."

It also said, citing a Zionist news website, that the Israeli official is a “high-ranking” one who would occupy an official position in Bahrain.

“This step is a national and political downfall, and an assault on Bahrain's sovereignty, history and future. It reveals the extent of the grave sovereign violations carried out by the regime,” al-Wefaq said.

Bahrain normalized its relations with the Israeli regime in mid-September 2020, in a deal arranged by the United States that infuriated Palestinians who see the arrangement, as well as those with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sudan, and Morocco, as a betrayal of their cause.

“It has gone even further when it has impulsively manipulated the fate of an entire country by handing over its national sovereignty and all state institutions to the enemies of Arabs and Muslims,” the Bahraini opposition group added.

The normalization deals have been denounced by the people of the region as “treacherous” and sparked protests in the countries that signed them.

The Bahraini regime, which lacks any popular legitimacy, and controls the citizens with oppression and repression, has exercised all suspicious, non-national and hostile roles against the people of Bahrain,” al-Wefaq added.

Since February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis, calling for the Al Khalifah regime to relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent.

“The practices of the Bahrain regime have exceeded all limits, and have been exposed to the fullest extent, as it transcends the national constants of the people, and is selling the homeland, in its quest to obtain a fictitious power from the Zionist enemy,” the al-Wefaq went on to say, stressing that such practices would “only increase its isolation, rejection, and discontent at the popular level.”

The al-Wefaq also stressed that "the whole world should know that the regime in Bahrain does not have any popular legitimacy, nor mandate. Hence, these practices do not express the affiliation of this country, but rather the opposite.”

“The whole world should know that the regime's rush into the arms of the enemy, and exacerbating the country through its relations and policies, and placing it under Israeli guardianship, is a heinous and inhuman crime, which the wicked do not practice,” the al-Wefaq added.

It is the first time an Israeli military official is posted to an Arab country. The provocative move was agreed upon during the Israeli minister of military affairs Benny Gantz’s visit to the Persian Gulf region last week.

The Israeli regime navy last week began participating in a massive international exercise - the International Maritime Exercise (IMX) - led by the US 5th Fleet, focusing on unmanned naval systems and the use of artificial intelligence