Bahrain to Continue Building Ties with Israel
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, listen, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at a news conference during the Negev Summit, in Sde Boker, Israel March 28, 2022. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Bahrain will continue to build its partnership with Israel after the victory of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his bloc in Israel’s general election, a diplomatic official said on Saturday.
The Gulf state normalized relations with Israel under the Netanyahu government in 2020 by signing the US-brokered Abraham Accords. The diplomatic adviser to Bahrain’s king, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, said that Netanyahu’s return to power was “normal and always expected.”
“We have an agreement with Israel, part of the Abraham Accords, and we will stick to our agreement and we expect it to continue in the same line and continue building our partnership together,” he told reporters.
“We will want to make an example and succeed together and face all the threats,” he added, talking about regional security issues.
Earlier in July, US and Israeli officials discussed the possible creation of an integrated Middle East air defense system during President Joe Biden’s trip to the Middle East. As Israel and Bahrain along with other Arab states share mutual concerns about Iran’s nuclear threat, Khalid underlined that his country “would like to make sure that we don’t have to reach a day that we will face some deterioration of security in the region of any sort.”
“We do want to have the region come to terms between all the countries and agree against any belligerency from any side to any other,” the official noted.
Earlier in October, Bahrain’s trade minister told i24NEWS that a free trade agreement with Israel could be signed before the end of this year. Trade between Israel and Bahrain totaled $7.5 million in 2021.