Lapid Inaugurates Israeli Embassy In Bahrain

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is expected to visit Bahrain on Thursday to inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Manama, the capital.

Lapid’s trip to Bahrain marks the first official ministerial visit to Manama after the normalization deal that was signed last year between the two countries.

Lapid, moreover, will meet with Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani to discuss bilateral relations as well.

Direct flights between the two countries, through the Gulf air, are expected to start on Thursday, Times of Israel reveals.

It’s noteworthy that the Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met on Sunday with Al-Zayani and UAE Foreign Minister Khalifa al-Marar, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Bennett told Al-Zayani that he was looking forward to meeting the Bahraini King at some point in the near future.

Bahrain and Gulf countries signed normalization deals with Israel last year for many reasons, including the Iranian file.

“We are stable, and we believe in this relationship,” Bennett said on the regional normalization accords that were signed about a year ago.

Morocco, too, is expected to host an Israeli embassy in its capital in the near future. Sudan, on the other hand, has lagged behind. Though it signed a normalization deal with Tel Aviv, Khartoum seems hesitant towards taking the embassy step.

“There’s not any sign of normalization with Israel… and there are no talks at any official level,” Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam Sadiq Al Mahdi told the National, “I’m telling you this as the foreign minister… Abolishing a law on boycotting Israel does not mean that we consider opening an Israeli embassy in Khartoum.”

Earlier this month, Bennett visited Egypt, where he met with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss regional as well as international matters.