TEHRAN - Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa boasted of his ties with Israel’s intelligence services and told his government to stop referring to Israel as the Zionist enemy, according to a leaked U.S. cable from 2005.

According to AFP, the cable, which was given exclusively to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, was written after talks between the king and Washington’s ambassador to Bahrain, William Monroe, in February of that year.
“He revealed that Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level (i.e. with Mossad) and indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas,” Monroe wrote, referring to Israel’s spy agency.
The cable also indicated King Hamad had ordered his public information minister to stop referring to Israel as the “Zionist entity” or “enemy” in official statements, Haaretz quoted the cable as saying.
But the king reportedly balked at the idea of establishing trade ties with Israel, saying it would have to wait until the establishment of a Palestinian state, the cable said.
The cable was leaked as the Persian Gulf kingdom struggles with a wave of protests against the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty.
Israel and Bahrain do not have diplomatic relations, and two years ago, MPs in Manama tried to push through a law outlawing any contact with Israel, which would have seen offenders slapped with a $27,000 fine and up to seven years in jail.
Another protester killed
Meanwhile, a female protester was killed as the Bahraini government increases the pressure on anti-government demonstrators.
Khadijah Al Abdulhayy died due to asphyxiation in the village of Sanabis, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the body of Seyyed Hamid al-Mahfood, who was murdered by Bahraini regime forces, was discovered. He was reported missing late on Tuesday.
Dozens of anti-government protesters have been killed and many others have gone missing since the beginning of the uprising in Bahrain.
Bahrain’s main Shia opposition group Wefaq said over 450 opposition activists, including 14 women, have been arrested since the uprising began in mid-February.
Human Rights Watch said it is worried about the rise in human rights violations committed by the Bahraini regime against citizens seeking political reform and a voice in the government.
Bahraini groups criticize UN secretary general
Meanwhile, in a letter to the United Nations secretary general, several Bahraini groups criticized the UN for doing nothing in response to the iron-fist approach adopted by the Al Khalifa family and the Saudi Arabian military’s invasion of the country.
In an interview with IRNA on Friday, an informed source said, “In this letter, the Bahraini people have expressed their desire for freedom and independence, which are regarded as the basic components of the UN Charter.”
He went on to say that human dignity and respect for human rights are emphasized in the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
In another development, a group of young Bahraini protesters announced on Friday that the one-way situation, in which the innocent people of Bahrain are being slaughtered, will not last forever, and if the government of Bahrain pays no attention to the legitimate demands of the people, they will adopt other measures to achieve their goals.
According to the Ahlul Bayt News Agency, the youth said that if the violence of the Khalifa and Saudi royal families continues, an armed group will be formed called Jaish al-Mahdi (AS).
The Bahraini youth pointed to the inflexibility of the Bahraini government in recent days and said that after peaceful protests, people just sit at home and wait to be arrested, tortured, and murdered.
Bahrainis have been calling for an end to the two-century rule of the Al Khalifa dynasty since February 14.
In March, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait deployed troops to Bahrain to reinforce a massive armed crackdown on the popular uprising.