Bahrain disrupts online even criticizing normalization with ‘Israel’
The organizer of the event said it had received a phone call during the live event from the security authorities ordering them to stop it immediately and "without discussions".
Manama (QNN)- Bahraini authorities on Saturday disrupted an online even that was discussing the country’s normalizing of ties with the occupation state.
The organizer of the event, the Bahraini Democratic Youth Society, stated that it had received a phone call during the live event from the security authorities ordering them to stop it immediately and “without discussions”.
Hadeel Kamal Eddin, the host, had to interrupt one of the speakers, saying she had just got a phone call from “official bodies” to cancel the event.
Speakers in the event were the Saudi researcher Sultan al-Amer, Omani writer Mohammed al-Shahri, Kuwaiti academic Fahad al-Mutairi, Bahraini journalist Reza Musawi and Haitham Abdo, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Ibrahim Kamal Eddin, the president of Bahrain’s chapter of the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, said that Bahraini officials “insisted to stop the symposium, saying that we do not have a permit and that foreign and non-local people are participating in it”.
The Bahraini Society against Normalization with Zionist Enemy expressed its deep regret over disruption of the anti-Israel event, emphasizing that the measure is in contradiction with Bahrain’s constitution and tarnishes the image of the country.
“The Bahraini constitution obligates citizens to protect their country’s borders. Awareness-raising is one of the frontiers, which must be safeguarded in the face of the fierce Zionist attack that is aimed at shaping Arabs’ thoughts and cultural front to accept normalization and foster a sense of surrender and defeat,” it said in a statement.
Despite of having no official ties with the occupation state, Bahrain is seen as an epicenter for the normalization of ties with Israel in the Persian Gulf region.
On June 26 last year, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah recognized Israel’s “right to existence” in an interview with the English-language The Times of Israel daily newspaper on the sidelines of a US-led economic workshop in Manama, saying the regime was “there to stay, of course.”
