Bahrain foreign minister heads to Israel to meet Netanyahu, Pompeo

Dubai: Bahrain’s foreign minister will travel to Israel on Wednesday in Manama’s first official delegation there and is due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, diplomats said.

Bahrain and the UAE established formal ties with Israel in a US-brokered deal signed at the White House on September 15. Sudan has since said it would also formalise relations with Israel, a former foe.

Bahrain’s Abdullatif Al Zayani’s trip to Israel will coincide with a visit there by Pompeo. They will hold a three-way meeting with Netanyahu, two diplomats briefed on the planning said.

An official in Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters that Al Zayani would hold talks on areas of cooperation broached during an Israeli delegation’s visit to Manama on October 18.