Bahrain to 'normalise ties with Israel'

The Gulf state of Bahrain is to normalise relations with Israel, the diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said on Friday, without citing sources.

Another Israeli reporter, Raphael Ahren of the Times of Israel, said US President Donald Trump would on Friday announce that Bahrain was joining its neighbour the United Arab Emirates in formally establishing ties with Israel.

The White House had no immediate comment. Trump will on Tuesday host a White House ceremony solemnising the Israel-UAE deal, which was announced on August 13.

The Kan reporter, Amichai Stein, said in a tweet that Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa would be in Washington on Monday.

Neither Bahrain’s government communications centre nor Bahrain’s embassy in Washington immediately responded to a request for comment.

Last week Bahrain said it would allow flights between Israel and the UAE to use its airspace. This followed a Saudi decision to allow an Israeli commercial airliner to fly over it on the way to the UAE.

Bahrain, a small island state, is a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the site of the US Navy’s regional headquarters. Riyadh in 2011 sent troops to Bahrain to help quell an uprising and, alongside Kuwait and the UAE, in 2018 offered Bahrain a $10 billion economic bailout.

The Trump administration has tried to coax other Arab countries concerned about Iran to engage with Israel. 

Such a move would make Bahrain the fourth Arab country to reach such an agreement with Israel since exchanging embassies with Egypt and Jordan decades ago.