On Monday, Israel officially opened its embassy in Bahrain, three years after the two countries normalized relations and as Washington pushed Riyadh for a similar agreement, which would be Israel’s most significant diplomatic victory in the region.
During his visit to Bahrain, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen attended an official ceremony to inaugurate the diplomatic mission alongside a delegation of business people and government officials.
“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 at the ceremony.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani said the embassy’s inauguration “signifies our shared commitment to security and prosperity for all the peoples of our region.”
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The Abraham Accords, a collection of accords with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan, also included the normalization pact between Bahrain and Israel.
Bahrain, a small island in the Gulf, is home to the Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy. The Al Khalifa royal family, Saudi Arabia’s Sunni allies, rule over a Shi’ite majority there.
Analysts claimed that similar concerns over Iran helped to foster the rapprochement with Israel.
The opening of the Israeli embassy in Bahrain came as the United States is pressing its traditional ally Riyadh to sign a similar deal for Saudi Arabia, a Muslim powerhouse and home to Islam’s holiest shrines.
The Israeli embassy in Bahrain opened simultaneously as the United States pressured Riyadh, its longtime ally, to sign a similar agreement for Saudi Arabia, a Muslim superpower.
