First-ever official Bahraini delegation heads to Israel

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Bahraini FM, has arrived ‘Israel’ today morning to head Bahrain’s first official government delegation on the first Gulf Air commercial flight to Tel Aviv.
With his visit, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani became the first minister from the Gulf nations to visit ‘Israel’.
During his visit, he will meet with senior Israeli officials and participate in a trilateral meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Have a safe flight! 🇮🇱 🇧🇠🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/G5asFbSnAr
— Dor Shapira (@ShapiraDor) November 18, 2020
Bahrain’s state-owned BNA news agency said the visit would “affirm Bahrain’s strong and permanent position in favor of supporting the peace process” and be focused on “the economic opportunities and bilateral accords with Israel.”
“Something like that doesn’t happen every day,” an Israeli diplomat who deals with relations with Gulf states said Tuesday.
“There is enormous economic potential in our ties with the UAE and Bahrain. Many here in the Foreign Ministry have worked on creating these ties for more than 15 years and are now understandably happy that they can finally talk about them openly. Wednesday’s visit by the Bahraini foreign minister is the culmination of these efforts, and should not be taken for granted,” the diplomat added.
Pompeo is currently on a seven-nation tour that includes stops in France, Turkey, Georgia, ‘Israel’, UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.