Prominent New York Rabbi Marc Schneier, after completing his Bahrain  visit commended King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s religious tolerance and acceptance.

“Bahrain is a role model in the Arab world for coexistence and tolerance of different faith communities, including a small Jewish community,” he said in a statement on his return. “I am excited that he and his government are fully committed to building bridges between our two communities.” Schneier’s praise for the country and its monarch, specifically for its fostering of religious coexistence, appeared to contrast sharply with the strife that has engulfed the small Persian Gulf kingdom since the Arab Spring arrived at its shores.

Schneier rejected the notion that the openness demonstrated by the Bahraini monarch could be an attempt to win over the sympathy of American Jews at a time when international support for his action is in decline. The New York rabbi explained that dealing with Bahrain’s internal strife was not part of his mission and that he was focused solely on the issue of Jewish-Muslim dialogue. “I was somewhat myopic in my goals over there,” he conceded. “This wasn’t a fact-finding mission for me,” he added. “I came with a very focused mission and, thank God, I was able to accomplish it.”

While Jewish–Muslim dialogue forums are common in the U.S. and Europe, he succeeded in recruiting King Hamed to host such a meeting in a Muslim country. At the end of the 45-minute meeting, which took place in the royal palace in Manama, an agreement was reached to hold a meeting in 2012 in which 10 Jewish and 10 Muslim leaders will convene to discuss relations between the two faiths in Bahrain under the auspices of King Hamed.

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