Israel’s PM Naftali Bennett to meet Bahrain’s king in landmark visit

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Israel's PM Naftali Bennett to meet Bahrain's king in landmark visit

Feb 15, 2022: According to a report by AFP, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will meet Bahrain’s king on Tuesday after arriving for the first visit by an Israeli head of state to the Gulf country, 17 months after they defied decades of tensions to normalise diplomatic ties.

Late Monday at the Manama airport, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani received Bennett. On Tuesday, he will meet King Hamad and Crown Prince Salman, who is also the Prime Minister. Bennett’s visit is the latest such move in the US-mediated Abraham Accords of 2020, which was against the long-standing Arab consensus that rejected relations with Israel in the absence of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Bahrain and its close ally the UAE became only the third and fourth Arab states – after Egypt and Jordan – to establish relations with Israel when they signed agreements reached under US President Donald Trump. Bennett also visited the United Arab Emirates in December.

The visit follows Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s visit to Manama earlier this month, during which the two countries signed a defense agreement. The agreement covers intelligence, acquisition and joint training, and Gantz is proud to have further strengthened the new diplomatic relationship.

The visit comes at a time of regional tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran is in talks with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, directly and indirectly, with the U.S to restore the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The U.S unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 under the Trump administration but efforts to salvage the deal have been resumed since November last year.

Bennett’s government strongly opposes a return to the 2015 agreement, warning repeatedly that lifting sanctions against Iran would give it more money to buy weapons for use against Israelis.

As part of their defence agreements, Israel is set to post a naval official in Bahrain, which hosts a base for the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, says in several respects Bahrain has been perceived as moving slower than the UAE in terms of consolidating ties with Israel.

He said allowing an Israeli military officer to be based in Bahrain was “significant”, however, noting that Bahrain “does not want to be seen as an Israeli base in the Gulf”.

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