Bahrain and Israel have never established diplomatic relations although
Israelis with foreign passports conducted business in
Manama.
U.S. government documents asserted that Bahrain's King Hamad was
maintaining intelligence cooperation with Israel's Mossad. The documents
said Hamad planned to expand cooperation with Israel.
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"Bahrain would be willing to move in other areas," U.S. ambassador to
Manama, William Monroe, wrote in a cable.
The Monroe cable, released by WikiLeaks, reported on a meeting between
the then-U.S. ambassador and Hamad in February 2005, Middle East Newsline reported. During the meeting,
Hamad reported on Bahrain's intelligence cooperation with Israel as well as
orders to end the delegitimization of Israel.
In one such order, the king told his information minister that Israel
was no longer to be referred as the "Zionist enemy" or "enemy."
The cable from the U.S. embassy in Manama did not cite details of
Israeli-Bahraini intelligence cooperation. But the king was quoted as saying
that he wanted the intelligence relationship to expand.
In 2010, Bahrain's parliament debated a bill that would ban all
contact with Israel.
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