the president Yitzhak Herzog He took off this morning for Bahrain, for the first and historic visit of an Israeli president to the Arab kingdom in the Persian Gulf. The president and his wife Michal are coming at the personal invitation of the local king Hamed bin Isa Al Khalifa.
The visit is expected to be short and intense and last only about 25 hours, with a busy schedule that also includes a visit by the President to the United Arab Emirates for his participation in the International Space Conference in Abu Dhabi. In Bahrain and also in Israel, Herzog’s visit is seen as the realization of the vision of the “Abraham Accords”, which were signed at the White House In September 2020, when for them it is a visit at the highest political level and a notable diplomatic achievement.
During the president’s meetings in Bahrain, many issues are expected to come up, including the security policy of the State of Israel, the expansion of the regional peace fund and the curbing of Iran’s nuclear armament. During his visit, Herzog is expected to meet members of the local Jewish community, which numbers several dozen people. As I recall, in February of this year, the then Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, landed in Bahrain, for the first visit of an Israeli Prime Minister to the Kingdom.
Tomorrow morning, as mentioned, the President will fly from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates, where he will hold a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince and President of the United Arab Emirates. This will be the fifth meeting between the two. Herzog and Ben Zayed met a year ago during the Israeli president’s first state visit to the United Arab Emirates – and since then have maintained contact, including phone calls. The two will also attend the space conference, which will also be attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The historic visit of the Israeli president to Bahrain will take place under the highest level of security arrangements. Ahead of the visit, the Shin Bet held several discussions in which it was decided to significantly increase the level of security around the president, in light of the activities of the pro-Iranian opposition party active in Bahrain. Last week, ahead of Herzog’s visit, the opposition party and other opposition parties launched an aggressive campaign on social media, calling oppose the Israeli president’s visit and even disrupt it in practice.
It should be noted that already yesterday, the same opposition elements held a demonstration against Herzog’s visit. They did so in light of the decision of the authorities in Bahrain to allow them to hold a demonstration, but only on the condition that it be held before the visit and not during Herzog and his entourage’s stay in the kingdom. Israel’s main concern is that Iran, through its supporters among the Bahraini opposition, will try to disrupt the visit, as happened when the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at the United Arab Emirates during President Herzog’s visit to Abu Dhabi earlier this year.