Lapid arrives in Bahrain in first official visit to Gulf State by Israeli minister

The visit comes a year after the signing of the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Morocco and Sudan.

By JNS.org

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid traveled to the Kingdom of Bahrain on Thursday in the the first official visit by an Israeli minister to the country.

Lapid met with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani after arriving in the capital of Manama.

Together, the two are scheduled to inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Manama and to sign a list of bilateral agreements, Israel’s Foreign Ministry reported.

Accompanying Lapid are Foreign Ministry Director General Alon Ushpiz, and Deputy Director General for Middle East and Peace Process Affairs Oded Yossef.

The visit comes a year after the signing of the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Morocco and Sudan.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Al-Zayani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week.

“I felt it’s important that we meet to signal the year of the Abraham Accords, which from our perspective is very meaningful,” Bennett told the Bahraini foreign minister on Sunday, according to a statement from his office.

Bennett said that Israel aspires to strengthen relations with the UAE and Bahrain in all fields, and expressed his hope that more countries in the region would join the circle of peace, the statement said.

UAE Minister of State in the Foreign Ministry Khalifa Shaheen Almarar also attended that meeting.

On Aug. 31, Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, Khaled Yousif Al-Jalahmah, arrived in Israel to take up his post.