Israel’s foreign minister will fly to Bahrain on Thursday, the highest-level official Israeli visit to the Gulf state since the countries established ties last year, the Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will inaugurate Israel’s embassy in Manama and sign bilateral deals during the visit, a ministry statement on Wednesday said.
Bahrain and Gulf neighbor United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords that built on shared business interests and worries about Iran.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Bahraini Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani in New York. “We are stable, and we believe in this relationship,” Bennett added on the regional normalization accords that were signed about a year ago.
Last month, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid visited Morocco, in the first such visit by an Israeli minister since the two countries agreed to normalize ties last year in a U.S.-brokered deal.
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During the visit Lapid inaugurated Israel’s liaison office in the capital Rabat and met with his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita.
At the inauguration of the Israeli diplomatic representation in Morocco, a symbol of the normalization of the relations between the two nations, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that within two months the two countries will open embassies, rather than liaison offices.
In June, Lapid hailed a “historic moment” during a first state visit to the United Arab Emirates for the inauguration of the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi.
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