Bahrain and It's Jews Joining the Abraham Accords

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

The 5 Bahrein Islands is an emirate in the Persian Gulf.  Jews, originating from Iraq, Iran and India, first settled there in the elate 19th century. In the 19th century, there were Jewish merchants from Iraq, Persia, and India in Bahrain. Their existence was peaceful until 1947 which was the beginning of Israel's War of Independence and word was out that the UN was about to hear that they were to declare Israel as a state. There were anti-Israel demonstrations going on in the islands in 1947.  In 1956, the year of Israel's Sinai War, there were 400 Jews who lived in Bahrain, but few remained by the 1980s.

Bahrain makes up 295.5 mi² in size. 

Jews have lived in Bahrain for 140 years;  the Israel deal changes their lives.  

"Leader of tiny community, Ebrahim Nonoo, says he can now talk to relatives and feel free about coming to Israel; hopes Jews will settle in Gulf nations."

 Well, Ebrahim has been away from a real feel of Jewishness living in Bahrain, though it is beautiful there, is my opinion.  Once he visits Israel he will see why this is the greatest thing that has happened to the Jewish people since King Solomon's day.  I know, I made Aliyah in 1980 and had never visited it before.  Living in Bahrain all his life, there's lots of history he may have missed reading about that will exemplify my reaction to Israel.  You've got to see it and breathe in the air to understand. 

 But this small community has done wonders in cementing a union between Jews and Arabs that has been successful, an example to us all in how it can work and should work. Why it worked here and not in Gaza today with the Palestinians should be studied.  Hope you're up to it, Ebrahim.  I see a great future ahead for you.     

 At the beginning of the twenty-first century, about 30 Jews remained in Bahrain. The community maintained ownership of a synagogue, but it was not in use and services were held in private homes on holidays. The Jewish community also maintained its cemetery. Modern Bahrain's Jewish community traces its origins to the migration of Iraqi traders from the Jewish Yadgar family in the 1880s.  

 A mob looted Jewish homes and shops, destroyed the city's synagogue, physically assaulted Jews, and murdered an elderly Jewish woman. Most members of Bahrain's Jewish community abandoned their properties and evacuated to Bombay, later settling in Israel, many of them in the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur; others went to the United Kingdom. The 1950 census found 293 Jews in the country.

Houda Nonoo told The Independent newspaper: "I don't think it was Bahrainis who were responsible for attacking their homes in the riot. It was people from abroad. Many Bahrainis looked after Jews in their houses." I just saw a Jewish man, I think Houda Nonoo's uncle,  on YouTube's Israel TV today and he spoke highly of his Bahrain non-Jewish friends who he invites to Jewish holidays, etc. He still lives there.  

Bahrain, the largest of the islands, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a country in the Persian Gulf. The island nation comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island which makes up around 83 percent of the country's landmass.  Its capital is Manama.  According to the 2020 census, Bahrain's population numbers 1,501,635 people, of which 712,362 are Bahraini nationals. At 760 square kilometres (290 sq mi) in size, it is the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. The capital and largest city is Manama.

Bahrain is the 42nd out of 48 Muslim majority states in the world as of 2011.  It was 81% Muslim then, 70.3% Islam now of which Islam is the state religion with Sunnis and Shi's.  Other religions are allowed to live there.  

• 70.3% Islam (official)
• 14.5% Christianity
• 9.8% Hinduism
• 2.2% Buddhism
• 0.3% Judaism
• 1% Other religions
• 1.9% Unaffiliated

In the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. In 1971, it declared independence. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared an Islamic constitutional monarchy in 2002. In 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring.  

                                                  

The Abraham Accords are a joint statement between State of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America, reached on August 13, 2020. Subsequently, the term was used to refer collectively to agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (the Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement) and Bahrain, respectively (the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement).

                                               

          Yusuf al Qaradawi, b: 1926,  Who broadcasts from Qatar against Jews and Israel on Al Jazeera, 95 years old

Qatar is the larger peninsular Arab country whose terrain comprises arid desert and a long Persian (Arab) Gulf shoreline of beaches and dunes. Also on the coast is the capital, Doha, known for its futuristic skyscrapers and other ultramodern architecture inspired by ancient Islamic design, such as the limestone Museum of Islamic Art. The museum sits on the city’s Corniche waterfront promenade.

Qatar is another story.  It's where the Egyptian cleric Qaradawi lives. He hates Jews.  Al-Qaradawi supports suicide attacks on all Israelis, including women since he views the Israeli society as a "completely military" society that did not include any civilians. He also considers pregnant women and their unborn babies to be valid targets on the ground that the babies could grow up to join the Israeli Army. 

Along the same line citing from New York-based Jewish-run ADL (Anti-Defamation League) report, on 24 January 2011 al-Qaradawi had voiced his desire to see Jerusalem conquered in a fatwa in which he claimed that it was the Muslims' duty to "defend" Jerusalem with "their lives, their money and all they pos-sess, or else they will be subject to Allah's punishment."  Much of all the hatred viewed by Muslims towards Israel comes from his speeches against the only Jewish state in the world. 40 to 60 million Muslims are faithful listeners.  

The Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (Arabic: تميم بن حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني‎; born 3 June 1980) is the Emir of Qatar. He is the fourth son of the previous Emir, Hamad bin Khalifa. He has been the ruler of Qatar since 2013 when his father abdicated the throne of Qatar and has been Qaradawi's  friend and protector as I remember  from past articles I've written about him.    

My hat is off to Bahrain as a very brave little Island with Qatar so near and yet so far from Bahrain's attitude towards Jews and Israel. Being so close to Saudi Arabia who has never allowed any Jew to step on their land, has not influenced them in that direction.  As I heard the Jewish man from Bahrain being interviewed today, he loved the Bahrain people and said that they were so much alike Jews, and that they got along so well.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Bahrain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_al-Qaradawi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamim_bin_Hamad_Al_Thani

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Accords

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houda_Nonoo

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-have-lived-in-bahrain-for-140-years-the-israel-deal-changes-their-lives/