New air and diplomatic links between Bahrain and Israel are coming into effect and, together with increased trade volumes, constitute the latest developments flowing from the Abraham Accords, which are beginning to bring demonstrable benefits.
Background
New air and diplomatic links between Bahrain and Israel are coming into effect and, together with increased trade volumes, constitute the latest developments flowing from the Abraham Accords. Under that agreement, signed in a ceremony on the White House lawn on 15 September 2020, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, with some deal-sweetening from the US, agreed to the full normalisation of their respective relationships with the State of Israel.
Comment
Khaled Yousif al-Jalahma, Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel arrived to take up his posting on 31 August. Mr al-Jalahma, whose previous postings include a four-year stint as deputy ambassador to the United States, went on to present his credentials to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in the Knesset (Parliament) on 2 September 2021. Mr al-Jalahma’s arrival was preceded by the four-day visit to Israel in early August of Bahraini Undersecretary for International Relations, Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.
The Bahraini flag carrier Gulf Air announced on 9 September that it will begin operating twice-weekly flights to Tel Aviv on 30 September. In a neat gimmick, the flight numbers – GF972 and GF973 – are also the international calling codes for Israel and Bahrain, respectively.
Read the article by Leighton G. Luke, Research Manager, Indo-Pacific Research Programme in Future Directions International.