Bahraini FM to Lead Historic Trip to Israel; Jewish Groups Turn to Congress as Hate Crimes Soar

Two Bahraini ministers will on Wednesday head the first official delegation from the Gulf kingdom to Israel. During the visit, a trilateral meeting is slated to be held between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al- Zayani.

Israeli officials are reportedly working to finalize an aviation agreement for direct flights between Tel Aviv and Manama so it can be signed at the meeting, and are also expected to discuss opening embassies and exchanging ambassadors.

Earlier this week, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to ratify the “Joint Communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic, peaceful, and friendly relations” with the Kingdom of Bahrain, concluding a formal process that began roughly two months ago.

“The establishment of peace and normalization with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan constitute a major achievement for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said minutes before the vote. “This is the result of a long effort we have led for years, an effort to expand the circle of peace, an effort to bring true peace, an effort to bring peace for peace,” he added.

Bahrain is one of two Gulf nations to sign normalization agreements with Israel, the other being the United Arab Emirates. In addition, the Jewish state and Sudan agreed in late October to forge official ties and “end the state of belligerence between their nations.” The Trump Administration brokered all three pacts.

Israel and the European Union have launched talks to deepen economic cooperation and discussed the possibility of creating a new trade corridor between the Eastern Mediterranean and Gulf states.

The idea of establishing a “regional peace railway” that would boost the economies of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states came up during annual discussions that also focused on the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

According to the Bank of Israel, the new railway would be a “shorter, faster, cheaper and safer” way to connect the East and West than current trade routes.

Hate crimes committed in the US rose to their highest level in more than a decade in 2019, a new report from the FBI disclosed, leading to calls from American Jewish groups for the urgent passage of legislation to counter the alarming trend.

The FBI’s Hate Crimes Statistics, 2019 report recorded 7,314 criminal incidents and 8,559 related offenses as being motivated “by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity” — an increase of 3 percent on the previous year and the highest number since 2008.

Of more than 1,700 offenses based on religious hatred, just over 60 percent targeted Jews.

In response to the findings, both the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee urged the US Congress to pass the National Opposition to Hate, Assaults, and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act, which would significantly boost state and federal resources for combating hate crimes.

Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli fighter pilot, will soon become the second astronaut in the country’s history, the Israel Space Agency (ISA) announced in a special televised statement from the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

Stibbe is slated to take off for the International Space Station in late 2021. The mission is expected to last for 200 hours, during which Stibbe will conduct a series of experiments meant to advance technologies and scientific tools developed by Israeli researchers and startups, according to the ISA.

Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, along with six other members of the Space Shuttle Columbia, were in 2003 killed in a disaster just 16 minutes before he was due to land back on Earth.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said the announcement marked “a day of national joy, and great pride. An Israeli pilot with a blue-and-white flag embroidered on his shoulder will prove once again, as we have been showing here for 72 years, that even the sky is no limit for us.”

WATCH: HonestReporting CEO Daniel Pomerantz was invited into ILTV’s studios to discuss Sunday’s flare-up with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s upcoming visit to Israel, and what Jerusalem might expect from the incoming Biden Administration. Click the image below to watch the interview.