Wednesday 16 February 2022

BAHRAIN OFFERS A WARM WELCOME TO ISRAEL'S LEADER NAFTALI BENNETT

 Naftali Bennett: Warm welcome for Israeli leader in Bahrain

Bahrain's King Hamad Al Khalifa (L) meets Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (R) in Manama, Bahrain (15 February 2022)IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS
Image caption,
Naftali Bennett is in Bahrain for the first ever official visit by an Israeli prime minister to the Gulf kingdom

It is unlikely that Bahrain's interior ministry band has played the Israeli national anthem much before - but they practiced it to perfection.

The song rang out with an honour guard in the courtyard of Al-Qudaibiya Palace - home to the ruling Al-Khalifa monarchy. I watched and then saw smiles swapped in the sunshine between Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad.

This was a scene unthinkable a few years ago. So was Mr Bennett's welcome on Monday night - an Israeli leader and Gulf royalty mingling over a red carpet, feted under airport floodlights.

But already it was starting to feel less remarkable. Normalisation is becoming normal.

Mr Bennett's trip to Bahrain is the second to a Gulf country in as many months. He went to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December. Both Arab states have signed trade and defence "framework" agreements with the Israelis. A year and a half has passed since the "Abraham Accords" began, now extending to four Arab countries.

They were brokered by US President Donald Trump and signed in 2020 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Bennett, keen to escape his predecessor's shadow, sees his job as moving them from "ceremony to substance".

FULL ARTICLE AT: Naftali Bennett: Warm welcome for Israeli leader in Bahrain

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