Fatima Al Harbi, a Bahrain writer and vice president of Sharqa, an organization to evangelize among young Israelis and residents of the Gulf states, spoke on the experience of bringing a delegation from Bahrain to Israel this month in this month’s Jerusalem Post Zoomcast. Share your thoughts.
He said Al Harbi last year became “the first young Bahraini to visit Israel”.
“I’ve always been curious and wanted to know more, see myself,” she recalled. “Discovered a completely different world from what I knew.”
She has since held a leadership position in Sharqa, and is “trying to promote peace, trying to build bridges between Israelis and Bahrainis. We want to campaign on social media and show people the real Israel.” Trying – what I saw, what I encountered, not what we see through the media … so that hopefully more people will join in and accept peace.
This month’s Sharqa delegation included nine Bahrainis from a range of fields, including education, youth and sports, business, politics and a social media influencer who wanted to see Israel for themselves.
Al Harbi said, the Israelis made her feel at home and even invited her to a Shabbat meal.
“We really felt like celebrities, we had people ask for pictures most of the time. Because of our traditional clothes, they recognize us easily,” she said. “People would say ‘Oh my god, you’re welcome. Well, we’ve waited so long for you, we’re so glad to have peace.”
The highlight of the recent visit, Al Harby said, was attending the grand launch of the David Friedman Center for Peace Through Strength, an organization led by David Friedman, the former US ambassador to Israel.
Al Harby is excited to meet influential people such as Friedman and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the event, as well as former prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ivanka Trump at an earlier event in the Knesset, a year after the Abrahams deal was signed. Were.
“We had great conversations with him and got the chance to meet people who have influenced the whole world,” she said.