A delegation of MTA talmidim and alumni had the unique opportunity to meet Dr. Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of State and Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council of the Kingdom of Bahrain on Monday, October 4, at a special luncheon hosted by Yeshiva University. The event, which marked the celebration of one year to the Abraham Accords Normalization Agreements, featured a discussion with the Shaikh, who shared the Warm Peace Strategy of the Kingdom of Bahrain for the implementation of the Abraham Accords, and learned from YU leadership, faculty, and students about American Jewry.
“Meaningful opportunities like this, which are not typically available to high school students, are one of the many advantages of MTA’s unique location on the YU campus,” said Head of School Rabbi Joshua Kahn. “It’s also a great way for our current talmidim to see firsthand the successes our alumni are achieving post-high school. At this particular event, our alumni represented the largest group of YU Honors Program participants from any high school.”
Dr. Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa serves as Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Deputy Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council of the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as Chairman of Derasat, Bahrain’s leading think tank. In this capacity, Dr. Shaikh Al Khalifa led on Bahrain’s historic Normalization Agreement with Israel within the Abraham Accords and visited Israel three times – twice secretly, and publicly in July 2021. He now leads on the design and implementation of Bahrain’s Warm Peace Strategy, which includes building stronger ties with American Jewry. Dr. Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa received his master’s degree in law from the prestigious Queen Mary College in London and his PhD in International Relations and Diplomacy from École des Hautes International in Paris.