Ayatollah Isa Qassim Decries ‘Israel’-Bahrain Deal, Urges Resistance

By Staff, Agencies

Bahraini opposition groups rejected a decision by the Gulf state to normalize relations with the Zionist entity, with the Bahraini Shia majority’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim calling on the region’s people to resist.

Ayatollah Qassim stressed that he is against normalization between Arab countries and ‘Israel’, in a statement published by Bahraini opposition al-Wefaq Association.

The accords between the Zionist occupation regime and the United Arab Emirates [UAE] last month, and between ‘Israel’ and Bahrain on Friday, go against the will of the people, Sheikh Qassim emphasized.

“There is a great divergence between the rulers and the ruled in thought, mind, aims and interests. Governments are experiencing a psychological defeat and want to impose it on the people, and the people have to resist this defeat,” the top Bahraini cleric added.

Relatively, a joint statement by a group of Bahraini political and civil society associations, including the Bahrain Bar Association, on Sunday also stood against the deal.

“What results from normalization will not enjoy popular backing, in line with what generations of Bahrainis have been brought up on in terms of adherence to the Palestinian cause,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the head of Bahrain’s highest court ordered judiciary employees not to criticize government policy or express opinions harming national unity, al-Bilad newspaper reported on Sunday.

Bahrainis have previously criticized their government’s engagements with the Zionist entity, including last June’s conference in Manama to launch a US-led $50 billion economic formula for the so-called ‘Israeli’-Palestinian ‘peace’