Bahrain is expected to normalize ties with Israel, according to Israeli media reports on Friday.
This would be the second accord between Israel and a Gulf state in recent weeks following the decision by the United Arab Emirates to normalize ties in August. It would also be the fourth between Israel and an Arab state, including Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
At a White House press conference on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump remarked that another country could follow the UAE’s lead.
“Next week at the White House we’ll be having a signing between the UAE and Israel, and we could have another country added into that,” he said. “And I will tell you that countries are lining up that want to go into it.”
He did not say what country could be next to normalize ties with the Jewish state.
“You’ll be hearing other countries coming in over a relatively short period of time,” he said. “And you could have peace in the Middle East.”
At least since 2019, Bahrain has been improving its diplomatic relations with Israel. In June of that year, it hosted the “Peace to Prosperity” conference, where the United States released the economic component of its Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal. The following August, Bahrain joined the U.S.-led coalition against to protect shipping in the Gulf against Iran.
Along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain opened its airspace last week to allow flights between Israel and the UAE.
This week, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain agreed to open their airspace to flights east from Israel.
