Bahraini Top Official Dismissed over Rejecting Israeli Normalization: Report
According to numerous reports by Arab media, Bahraini king Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has dismissed Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa as the president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities days after she refused to shake hands with an Israeli envoy.
In a decree, Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa has been appointed as her replacement.
Controversy arose on June 16, 2022, when the US Ambassador to Bahrain Stephen Bundy held a ceremony at his home to mark the death of his father.
When greeting the guests at the ceremony, Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa refused to shake hands with Eitan Na'eh after she found out that he was the Israeli ambassador to Bahrain. She then left the ceremony.
The development comes as Bahraini people have held numerous demonstrations in the past two years to protest Bahrain’s decision to normalize ties with the Israeli regime through the so-called Abraham Accords, voicing their support for the Palestinian cause.
The accords were signed at the White House in September 2020 between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Morocco and Sudan later signed normalization agreements with the Israeli regime as well. Palestinians have denounced the normalization deals, describing them as a “stab in the back”.
The occupying regime officially inaugurated its embassy in Manama in late September 2021.
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