Israel’s foreign minister inaugurates embassy in Bahrain

Israel’s foreign minister inaugurated the country’s new permanent embassy in Bahrain on Monday. 

Eli Cohen met with his Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani as well as Bahrain’s crown prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa at the Gudaibiya Palace in Manama.

The Israeli embassy in Bahrain has been operating from a temporary office in the Bahrain World Trade Center since 2021, which was inaugurated by then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

“The (Bahrain) foreign minister and I agreed that we should work together to increase the number of direct flights, the tourism, the trade volume, the investments,” Cohen said during his visit to Bahrain on Monday, adding that the two discussed issues of regional security, deepening relations between the countries and expanding the circle of peace and normalisation” between Israel and Arab states.

“Relations with Bahrain are an example of the prosperity and achievements brought about by the Abraham Accords. In the last year, we managed to double the trade between the countries, but the enormous potential is still far from being exhausted, especially when the distance between the countries is less than three hours by flight,” Cohen added.

Al Zayani said the inauguration “signifies our shared commitment to security and prosperity for all the peoples of our region,” while reiterating the “importance of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through a two-state solution as outlined in the Arab peace initiative.”

Cohen, who was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen and government officials, is the first senior official to visit Bahrain since Prime Minister Netanyahu formed a new government last year.

The inauguration comes as the U.S. is attempting to bring Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords fold, which includes Sudan, UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.

Senior U.S. officials are expected to arrive in Riyadh again this week to continue discussing the possibilities of a Saudi-Israel normalisation deal.