Lapid llega a Bahréin en la primera visita oficial israelí tras la normalización

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid arrived in Bahrain on Thursday, where he will inaugurate his country's embassy, in the first official visit by a member of the Israeli government to the small Gulf nation, a year after it normalised relations with the Jewish state.

In addition to the inauguration of the Israeli diplomatic legation in Manama in the afternoon, Lapid's agenda includes a meeting with his counterpart, Abdullah bin Rashid al-Zayani, at which they are expected to sign a series of bilateral agreements on economic and technological matters.

This is the first official trip by a high-level Israeli government representative to Bahrain and comes after it recognised and normalised its relations with the Jewish state last year along with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Abraham Accords, under the auspices of then US President Donald Trump.

The two Gulf states thus became the first Arab countries to establish relations with Israel after Egypt (in 1979) and Jordan (1994), breaking with the consensus reached in the Arab League to make this step conditional on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Bahrain and the UAE have been followed by Sudan and Morocco.

Although the steps taken in normalisation between Israel and Bahrain have not reached the level of those taken with the UAE, the two nations have reached multiple agreements since normalisation was signed in September last year, including direct flights and economic cooperation.

Lapid's visit follows his trip in recent months to both the UAE and Morocco.

It also comes days after Yusef al-Yalahma, Bahrain's ambassador to Israel, presented his credentials to the new Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, on 15 September, the same day as the first anniversary of the signing of the agreements at the White House.