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 Dr. Al Khalifa, 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 also serves as chairman of Derasat, Bahrain’s leading think tank. In this capacity, Dr. Shaikh Al Khalifa led Bahrain’s historic Normalization Agreement with Israel within the Abraham Accords and visited Israel three times—twice secretly and then publicly in July 2021. He now leads 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 masters in law from the prestigious Queen Mary College in London and his PhD in International Relations and Diplomacy from Ecole des Hautes International in Paris.