FFEU President Rabbi Marc Schneier Took Part At The White House’s Peace To Prosperity Workshop In Manama, Bahrain

In his capacity as Special Advisor to the King of Bahrain, H.M. Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, FFEU President Rabbi Marc Schneier was invited in Manama this week for the White House’s Peace to Prosperity Workshop led by senior adviser Jared Kushner. The gathering brought together government leaders, private and public sector business leaders to develop economic opportunities as a step to foster peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Participants hailed from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Egypt, Jordan and others. The excitement was palpable as high level participants all came together to discuss the White House economic plan.

In addition to this very promising assembly, there were a couple of other important moments. For the first time in history, Bahrain allowed 7 Israeli journalists to visit and attend the conference. These journalists were allowed access to officials as well – some even interviewed Bahrain’s Foreign Minister H.E. Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. The second, was that yesterday morning the Jewish community opened up their synagogue for the invited Jewish participants to join them for the Shacharit service. It wasn’t lost on the attendees the magnitude of their being in a Jewish synagogue in a Gulf country.