Bridging the Divide in Bahrain

TJH Speaks with Israel’s Ambassador to Bahrain Eitan Na’eh

By SuSan Schwamm

Ambassador Na’eh, you’ve spent your life representing Israel on the world stage.

I’m a career diplomat. I started my career in Turkey in ‘93, and after four years, I moved to Chicago. I spent two years there and then went back to Israel. My next assignment was as ambassador to Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea, where I spent another four years. Then I went back to Israel, spent four years with the prime minister’s office, the National Security Council, and as the deputy ambassador in London. From there, I was sent to Turkey again as ambassador in the end of 2016 until 2018. After two and a half years, I returned to Israel. Then I was sent to Abu Dhabi to open the embassy there. Now, I am the first Israeli ambassador to Bahrain. In essence, I am the first Israeli diplomat to have served here officially, and I opened the embassies both in Abu Dhabi and then in Manama.

In terms of my personal life, I am married and am fortunate to have a granddaughter.

Do you speak Arabic?

I do – a bit. I studied Arabic and Middle East history in university. My Arabic is passable. I can read, I can write, I can understand, but my spoken Arabic is not good enough.

When you have to communicate with officials, what language do you use?

We speak in English.

You’ve been in Bahrain for over a year now. Did you feel welcomed when you came?

I have been in touch with officials, businesspeople, people in academia and the media, members of the public from different sectors. Those who want to be in touch with me are, but not everybody. Bahrain is a country where not everybody supports the policy of the Abraham Accords, but the government, His Majesty, the King, of course, envisioned it, signed it, and enacted it, so there are many people who support it.

What I do here is build relationships and deepen existing relationships. I also want to go wider into new areas of cooperation — academic or economic or political or tourism. Relationships, in a way, stand on three feet: political, economic, and what we call people-to-people. That can be referring to artists or young people or women or NGOs. I want to build all those relationships between our countries.

You mentioned that not everyone is supportive of the Abraham Accords in Bahrain. What do you think is holding them back?

Look, for more than 70 years, there were no relationships between the nations. The people in Bahrain did not meet Israelis or go to Israel. They lived off either the textbooks or, certainly, the media. The newspapers and television were the main sources of information. Now, when they have more opportunities, which some – not all – take, whether it is to go to Israel or to meet Israelis or to start to cooperate, they see things that are different from the earlier perceptions or maybe stereotypes that they’ve had. But again, this is a small country, and people may still have some concerns and worries. Those who visited Israel, including delegations of young people or students, came back with a 180° different impression of Israel and of the world.

We just celebrated Israel’s national independence day. At the reception in Bahrain, we showed a new exhibition with photos that were taken by a group of young people who took photos of Israel in their eyes – Israel in the eyes of young Bahrainis. It’s interesting what caught their eyes, whether it was a restaurant, an Arab restaurant, or signs in three languages, Hebrew, English, Arabic, or anything that sometimes we take for granted or we who were born in Israel or visit Israel often don’t really see. It was the good and the bad. The main idea is that they all understood that Israel is a complex place. It’s a mosaic of people, religions, and ethnic origins of people. When you take all that in, I think that changes what they thought in the beginning towards forming a new view of their beliefs.

You were in Abu Dhabi for a while. Did you feel like the people there were a little more open and welcoming to you there?

I don’t give marks. It’s not an exam. I felt warmth. I made many friends with those whom I met. I enjoyed my stay there, just like I enjoy my stay here.

This is fascinating. This is exciting. I’m very curious. I came here to learn. I’m still learning the questions. It’s different. When we come to a new place, we usually first see the differences, and the longer we stay, we see more similarities, whether it’s in food, in culture, in behavior, in mannerisms, in different aspects of life. The more you stay, the more you understand, the more you know. You learn the history. You learn the culture.

That’s what we’re trying to do here, not just to learn about their culture, and for them to learn about our culture – to create curiosity, at least. We hope that some now, maybe some later, will learn more and understand more about Israel – not necessarily love us and hug us and agree with everything we say, but at least to respect us. We hope that they’ll be willing to do things together with us that maybe were impossible to do before. It could be business or medical research or corporations… anything we both feel we can do together.

At the for Israel’s day

We’re approaching the third anniversary of the Abraham Accords. Do you see any other countries joining the Abraham Accords?

My AOR, my area of responsibility, is Bahrain. We try to deepen the relationships between Israeli people and Bahraini people and that’s what I’m mainly busy with. Of course, we are not blind, and Bahrain is a meeting place of other countries as well. People come here for vacation or for business. And if there are opportunities, of course, we’ll try to use these opportunities and introduce people to people. But I’m busy with Israel-Bahrain relationships. And as long as I’m the ambassador here, that’s what I will be doing.

Tell us about the Jewish community in Bahrain.

Well, there are Jews here, but I wouldn’t call it a community, although I guess you can say it’s a very small community. I’m friendly with quite a few members of the community. We spend the high holidays together as much as they want to, and as far as I’m here, we spend time together during the Jewish holidays. On Pesach, I went for the first time home to be with my family. But usually, we – the Jews in the community and myself –are together Friday nights. We have what we call here “Shabbat club.” We invite members of the Jewish community to our house or go to theirs and do Kabbalat Shabbat together and light the candles and eat the meal together.

Do you see the Jewish community in Bahrain growing as Israel and Bahrain’s connection deepens?

There might be more Jews coming here – people will come from different parts of the world – but Bahrain is home to an indigenous Jewish community. It’s the only place in the Gulf that there is an indigenous Jewish community. As it happens, a lot of them left for the U.S. or for London or for Israel from the late ‘40s to the late ‘60s. Now, there are very few Jews here, but they are part and parcel of Bahrain. They are Bahrainis first. I don’t see that the Jewish Bahraini community will grow in that sense. There might be more Jews coming, whether they are Israelis who open companies here or expats who work for different companies, but it’s not like they will become part of that Bahraini community.

You spent time in an official capacity in Turkey. Can you talk a bit about the relationship between Israel and Turkey, which, at times, seems convoluted?

For more detailed interview about Israel-Turkey relationships, you better talk to the ambassador in Turkey. It’s true, I was in Turkey. In general, with regards to relationships between countries, we talk about interests. We talk about respect. We talk about respecting each other’s interests and about building relationships. That’s Diplomacy 101.

Is there anything that Israel should be doing to give the world a better view of the Jewish state?

Oh, what a question… that’s a whole seminar.

Look, we’re doing our best. We present Israel in all its complexities. In today’s world, people, even if I don’t tell them, can read it themselves at the palm of their hand. Everybody has a cell phone. Everybody reads the papers. Everybody watches TV. Everybody gets the news one way or another. Our job is to tell the story of Israel and shed light on areas in Israel which are not usually covered by the media. To connect people. To connect organizations. To connect countries and governments. Once you get to know people better, maybe you’ll rid yourself of stereotypes and look at matters in a more objective perspective, free of stereotypes and prejudices. That’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what we try to do through different tools that are at every diplomat’s toolbox – meetings, events, trips, speeches. We try to portray the true image of Israel, a country that lives by its values, Jewish values, v’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha, love the other as you love thyself. That’s the whole Torah while standing on one foot, isn’t it?

Are there any prevalent stereotypes that you see more than others?

I enjoyed serving in Turkey, two terms in the ‘90s and 2016 to 2018. It’s an important country. But for details, you’ll have to talk to the ambassador there.

You’re a career diplomat representing Israel. What made you go into this field? It’s a massive responsibility.

I think it’s important to be representing Israel. I always wanted to do something meaningful. I think that throughout my career – whether it’s in Turkey or Azerbaijan, in London, and certainly in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain – I have felt that I had been doing something to build better relationships between our countries. I find myself doing exactly what I love to do – building relationships.

Well, when people turn on the TV and there is a news item about Israel, it’s not about the mortgage rates and it’s not about a new company that was opened. It’s usually about Israel and the Palestinians. It’s about terror. It’s about an incident on the Israel-Egyptian border. Usually, it’s bad news. And therefore, their impression or their views of Israel is black smoke. We try to show everybody that there is another side of Israel that the media won’t show you because it’s not what the media tries to sell. That’s why we invited the young people to take photos of Israel – Israel beyond the conflict.

When you visit a country, you get to understand the place, the sensitivities, you talk to people. When Moishe meets Muhammad, friendships can be created. It creates personal interest; there’s someone you can call and talk to. I call every Moishe and Isaac to meet Muhammad and Ahmed. If Jews meet Arabs and Arabs meet Jews, they will see that they are all people who have wishes and wills and hopes