Wikileaks: Bahrain secretly in contact with the Mossad
He may have greeted Abu Bluff for the sake of form, but a cable released by Wikileaks reported that Bahrainian King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa told then US ambassador William Monroe in 2005 that he was in touch with the Mossad.
“[The king] revealed that Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level (ie with Mossad) and indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas,” the cable said.
The king also told the ambassador that he had ordered his public information minister to stop calling Israel the “enemy” or the “Zionist entity” in official statements of the kingdom, said the cable, which was released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.
The Israeli newspapers Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth recently published reports based on the cable.
The cable’s revelation comes at a delicate time for Bahrain’s Sunni royal family, which invited troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states last month to help quell an uprising by the country’s Shiite majority.
“In the Arab world, they hate this sort of thing and in Bahrain I’m sure it will be yet another sin [for the opposition] to beat the government with,” said Simon Henderson, a Gulf anaylst for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“It will also not be particularly welcomed by supporters of the government, even though they might half understand that to counter Iran, the government needs to deal with a whole variety of people,” he said.
Bahraini officials could not be reached for comment.
A leading pro-government lawmaker insisted that the information about contacts with Mossad “cannot be true” because Bahraini intelligence officers “still consider [Israel] an enemy.”
In Bahrain, protesters and the government have been at a standoff since the government - apparently under pressure from the United States - put its weapons away and allowed the protesters to occupy Pearl Square in the center of the country's capital, Manama.
The crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, continued to call for a national dialogue and period of mourning as a step toward reconciliation. But officials with the leading opposition party, the Shiite movement called Al Wafeq, said that with six people dead, one brain dead in the hospital, hundreds injured and many still missing, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would first have to convince them that he was willing to compromise after repeatedly unleashing his security forces on civilians.
The party called for the dismissal of the long-serving prime minister, Sheik Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, and the appointment of an interim unity government.
“You can’t send your troops with machine guns, kill people and then expect to start a dialogue,” said Abdul Jalil Khalil Ebrahim, one of the 18 party members to withdraw from Parliament in protest over the deaths. “The cabinet has to go. This government has failed. How can we trust them in a dialogue?”
The government has repeatedly declined requests for comment or to make an official available for an interview. The crown prince’s office also did not respond to an interview request.
There are three main players besides the king in the royal family, part of the Sunni minority that controls the country. They are the crown prince, known as the most moderate among the group; the prime minister, who is said to be wealthy, but whose power has ebbed as popular anger at him has peaked; and the minister of the Royal Court, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, known as the hard-liner of the three, opposition leaders say.
At the moment, the crown prince apparently has the upper hand in discussions among the king’s close aides, but opposition leaders say that the king has been known to play members of his inner circle against one another and that the dynamic could change at any time.
The longer this continues, the more tempted the government is going to be to start shooting protesters again.
Video: Another dead in Bahrain as police open fire on funeral procession
The upheaval in the Arab world continues. On Monday, two people were killed in demonstrations in Bahrain, and on Tuesday morning, another person was killed when police opened fire on a funeral procession.
Let's go to the videotape. This is from Monday.
And here's a picture from Tuesday's funeral procession.
That picture came from someone named Mahmood, who has lots more pictures here.
In other news that may or may not be connected, Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa has become the first Arab leader to call to congratulate Egypt's Hussein Tantawi, who has temporarily become President of that country.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak became the first 'world leader' to telephone Tantawi on Saturday.
So why dwell on Bahrain on an Israeli blog? Well, Bahrain is the smallest country in the region but it's also one of the most important. Bahrain hosts the United States Navy's 5th fleet. If the US is eventually to play any role in an attack on Iran, it is inevitable that the 5th fleet will be involved.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
He may have greeted Abu Bluff for the sake of form, but a cable released by Wikileaks reported that Bahrainian King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa told then US ambassador William Monroe in 2005 that he was in touch with the Mossad. 
