Senior official: Bahrain did not recall envoy

WASHINGTON — Bahrain has made no decision to recall its ambassador, despite a statement earlier today by its parliament that said it had, a senior official familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

The parliament statement had said that Manama would recall its ambassador and that it had ordered Israel’s Ambassador to Bahrain Eitan Naeh to leave the country, but the senior official says the Gulf country’s envoy Khaled Al-Jalahma was already back in Bahrain for a personal engagement and an Israeli official says that Jerusalem had pulled Naeh and his staff out of the country toward the beginning of the war as a security precaution.

The Israeli official says the UAE is currently the only Mideast country where Jerusalem still has an ambassador stationed after quietly pulling envoys from Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and Bahrain.

“There has been no recall of ambassadors and no cutting of ties” with Bahrain, the senior official says, echoing the earlier message from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which said that it had not received any directive from Manama regarding the recalling of ambassadors and that “Israel-Bahrain relations are stable.”