On video: the swearing-in of the 25th Knesset (Photo: Knesset Channel)
President Yitzhak Herzog will take off this morning (Sunday) for his first state visit to Bahrain, and will be the first Israeli president to visit the Persian kingdom.
During the visit, Herzog is expected to meet with the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, with senior officials in the kingdom and with members of the Jewish community.
Tomorrow the president will fly from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi where he will participate in a space conference and meet with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed.
Israel and Bahrain have had secret relations since the 1990s, managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mossad, but since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020, and the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the countries, there is a constant effort to strengthen ties.
Herzog, the first Israeli president to visit the kingdom, arrives in Bahrain at the invitation of the king, following a series of reciprocal high-ranking visits over the past two years: former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi visited Manama, the capital of Bahrain; Bahraini Foreign Minister , Abd al-Latif al-Ziani, Minister of Industry and Trade and the Bahraini Minister of Agriculture visited Israel.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's meeting with Bahrain's King Hamed bin Issa Al Khalifa, February 15, 2022 (Photo: Government Press Office, Haim Tzach)
Herzog's visit will also be joined by a senior Israeli economic delegation, which will include representatives of the Manufacturers Association, the Innovation Authority and the Export Institute, with whom he will hold meetings at the Economic Development Authority in Bahrain with the aim of upgrading economic and trade relations between the countries.
Since the Abraham Accords, there has been an increase in the volume of trade between Israel and Bahrain, which is estimated at millions of dollars per year, with the main areas of interest being health, cyber, agriculture, water and fintech, chemicals, stones and metals.
At the same time, the warming of relations with Israel also has internal opposition in Bahrain, and last week, network protests broke out against Herzog's visit and against normalization with Israel in general, and on Friday there was even a demonstration of dozens of participants against the visit, in which signs were raised against Herzog and with the inscription "Death to Israel ".
Following the protests, the Shin Bet increased the security of the visit and even demanded changes to the plans and schedules. For example, it was decided to cancel the president's visit to the synagogue in Bahrain, which was built in the 1930s and renovated after the signing of the Abraham Accords. Herzog will meet with members of the community The Jew of Manama in a hotel.
On Monday, the president will take off from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates, and will participate in the Abu Dhabi Space Conference, which is designed to promote multinational cooperation in the field of space.
Herzog will speak at the conference, which is being held under the auspices of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, with whom the President will hold a meeting on the sidelines of the conference.
This will be Herzog and Ben Zayed's fourth meeting since he took office.
During Herzog's previous visit to the Gulf in Abu Dhabi, in January 2022, Houthi rebels in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at the United Arab Emirates, but the shooting did not disrupt the visit.
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Bahrain
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Yitzhak Herzog