Ex-Mossad chief: Bahrain will try to guard Israelis from Shi’ites, Iran

Bahrain will do its best to protect visiting Israelis from threats from the country’s Shi’ite population and from Iran, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy said on Monday.

Speaking as part of a Jerusalem Press Club virtual conference with the media, Halevy said: “I don’t think there is a specific threat to the Israelis” who will visit Bahrain once the impending normalization deal with Israel if finalized, but there is a “potential serious threat, which is that the Iranians may consider it an opportunity to strike at Israelis.”

“I think the local authorities in these countries [Bahrain and UAE] are well aware... they will know how to deal with it in an effective way,” he said.

However, the former Mossad chief added, “I don’t want to characterize the threat... but the local security authorities are well aware... Whether this is foolproof 100%: Nothing is foolproof.”

Halevy went on to say that for normalization with Saudi Arabia, Israel will need to make concessions to the Palestinians.

He rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s formula of “peace for peace,” saying that Israel was never at war with the UAE or Bahrain and that these deals were “interests for interests.”

In contrast, he said that the Saudis’ interest would demand progress with the Palestinians.

Discussing Iran, Halevy expressed marked optimism that there would be a new nuclear deal between the US and the Islamic Republic after the US election.

He noted that even US President Donald Trump has vowed to push harder for a deal if reelected and that Democratic challenger Joe Biden has made clear his preference for a renewed deal.

Halevy also recounted several meetings he had under the radar with Gulf leaders dating back to the 1970s.

Later Monday, Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen’s new analysis division sent a document to The Jerusalem Post noting that the impending Israel-Bahrain deal would lead to new developments in intelligence and cyber cooperation against Iran.

The document noted that Bahrain’s struggle with various crises, including a faltering economy due to low oil prices, has made it more open to working with Israel to transform itself into a regional hub for technology startups.

Bahrain is especially interested in joint projects with Israel in the financial technology sector and in a range of other industries, from energy to water to the environment, said the report.

Though the Intelligence Ministry report said that the US has already sold Bahrain fairly advanced F-16 aircraft, it said that Israel could still sell the country other advanced weapons.