United States Vice President Mike Pence, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a bilateral meeting in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

WARSAW, Poland – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Thursday released a video of a closed meeting in which senior Gulf Arab officials play down the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, defend Israel’s right to defend itself, and describe Iran as the greatest threat to regional peace.

The video, bearing the insignia of Netanyahu’s office, gave a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes contacts the Israeli leader frequently boasts of, but which are rarely seen in public. The video was recorded on a mobile device and it was not clear who took it.

Netanyahu’s office briefly made the YouTube video available to a small group of journalists traveling with him before quickly removing it. It was unclear whether his office intended to leak the information or distributed it mistakenly. But the decision to take the video down indicated the Gulf officials, whose governments do not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, had not consented to its release.

The edited, 25-minute video shows a series of comments made by officials from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on a panel discussion at a U.S.-sponsored security conference in Warsaw. Some 60 nations participated in the gathering, which was focused heavily on countering Iran’s growing influence in the region.

Bahrain’s foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, made some of the toughest comments, saying that Iran is a far bigger threat to regional security than the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We grew up talking about the Palestine-Israel dispute as the most important issue,” he says. “But then at a later stage, we saw a bigger challenge. We saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran.”

He went on to denounce the “neo-fascist regime” in Tehran, accusing it of plotting attacks in his country and destabilizing Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

Bahrain, an island nation off Saudi Arabia that’s home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, long has had tense relations with Iran. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for years pushed for control of the Shiite-majority island. After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian-backed militants launched a failed coup attempt on the island. Even today, Bahrain accuses Iran of arming Shiite militants amid a years-long crackdown on all dissent by the island’s Sunni rulers.

While the Gulf Arab countries’ animosity toward Iran is well known, it is generally taboo for Arab leaders to make such comments about the Palestinians in high-profile public settings.

Israel has identified Iran as its greatest threat. It has vowed to prevent Iran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria and has carried out scores of airstrikes on Iranian targets in the neighboring country.

Asked about Israel’s military activity in Syria, the UAE’s Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, of the Abu Dhabi royal family, said: “Every nation has the right to defend itself when it’s challenged by another nation.”

Saudi Arabia’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, also accused Iran of hurting the Palestinian cause by supporting militant groups battling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“Who is supporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad and undercutting the Palestinian Authority?” he says. “Iran.”

Netanyahu did not participate on the panel, but is seen sitting in the audience. Speaking to reporters early Thursday, Netanyahu cryptically hinted at what he called the “unfathomable” friendly atmosphere at the conference. But he did not disclose any details or say whom he had met.

The leak of the video appeared to be the second gaffe by the Israeli leader’s office in Warsaw. On Wednesday, Netanyahu said he hoped the conference would rally support for “war with Iran.” His office later said his comments had been mistranslated from Hebrew, and that he was calling for everyone to “combat” Iranian influence.