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Bahrain: The Bahraini Anti-Zionism Society is seeking an explanation from the Ministry of Education after learning that a group of Bahraini students joined other Arab nationals in a visit to the Israeli Embassy in Washington last week.
The visit was part of a young international leadership training programme sponsored by the US government. A website "ynetnews.com" had reported the visit.
The Secretary-General of the Society, Abdullah Malek, told Gulf News on Sunday that it would question the Ministry on why it had let the meeting occur.
"We are going to refer the matter to the Head of the Parliamentary Committee to Support Palestine Nasser Al Fudhala to grill the government over this illegal action to normalise relations with Israel," Malek said.
He added, "The visit was a violation of the parliament's order to ban any kind of relationship with Israel after a meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Israeli counterpart last year."
He urged the parliament to tackle the matter in its first session after the end of the recess in October.
Malek says he holds parents responsible for letting minors visit the embassy despite what he calls "Israeli aggression against Palestinians".
According to "ynetnews.com", Rafi Harpaz, the Director of Public Relations at the Israeli Embassy, said the visit provided a unique opportunity to explain Israel's position first-hand. Harpaz also explained that Arab students shook his hand after the meeting and asked to be photographed with him. Many students told him it was their first time meeting an Israeli.
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