Bahrain recently became the fourth Arab country to establish normal relations with the Israeli occupation state, after Egypt in 1979, Jordan in 1994, and the UAE in 2020.

The Arabs were not much surprised by the Bahraini announcement of normalizing relations with Israel, to the extent that it was surprising when the UAE announced this.

This does not mean that the event is not important, but rather because its value was inherent in the implicit message that the news of Bahraini-Israeli normalization carried, which is that the largest and most important goal of the Israeli state is Saudi Arabia, and that it has come close to walking on the same road, and that the issue has become a matter of time. Not more.

 The Arabs were not surprised by the news of Bahrain due to an important consideration, and perhaps it was also alone, which is that Bahrain's foreign policies are often a reflection of Saudi foreign policy orientations.

It is not the first time that Bahrain has taken the lead in any political scene with which Saudi Arabia has a connection, as the scenes are many.

Bahraini officials are not hidden from admitting this, including what The Times of Israel stated in a recent report that “When Trump's senior advisor Jared Kushner traveled to Bahrain 10 days ago, after heading a joint American and Israeli delegation to the UAE, the King of Bahrain indicated that Manama will not sign an agreement except in coordination with Saudi Arabia, which indicates the congruence of visions and policies between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

 But the question that may be on the minds of many is: What prompted Bahrain to take such a step?

What is the need for it to normalize relations with Israel?

First of all, it can be said that the same question should not be limited to Bahrain only, because it is suitable for it to be with any Gulf state that has resided or is still considering the same step.

What is the need for the Gulf states to normalize relations with a country that does not have political borders with it, and does not enter into security or other disputes with it, and Israel is not the state that the Gulf cannot continue in the development and advancement processes without its presence.

 Then there is no economic need for Bahrain to establish relations with Israel;

Saudi Arabia is taking on this role almost completely.

As for the security need, it is also not justified, because Bahrain falls within the Saudi security umbrella first, and then the Peninsula Shield or the joint defense agreement of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, which was signed at the 21st session of the Supreme Council, which was held in Bahrain in December 2000.

This agreement came as the culmination of years of Gulf military cooperation, and an affirmation of the determination of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to collectively defend against any threat threatening any of them, and the effect of this was shown in controlling the situation in Bahrain at the beginning of the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, and the intervention of the Peninsula Shield forces to control the security of the island.

But if some protest by saying that the Iranian threat to the island is a great motivation for Bahrain to move towards a country with which it shares apprehension and anxiety, such as Israel and with them the UAE, even if on the surface;

It is still not justified, given what happened on the island in 2011.

Israel is the biggest beneficiary. The


bottom line is that Bahrain’s normalization of its relations with Israel will be nothing but a number that has increased in the list of Arab countries printed with the Israeli occupation state, and that increasing the number in that list will only benefit Israel, and specifically Israeli politicians, considering that these steps are like electoral papers that are taking place. Use them for their own personal interests.

In addition, observers say, this step is not carefully calculated strategically.

Expectations are that Tehran will take advantage of this event to move the Bahraini interior once again, helped by a tense internal situation that has been engulfing Bahrain since 2011.

With this step, Bahrain opened a door that was almost closed, as it is not possible to predict what might enter it from this door in the coming days, and this is what observers described as a step that is not strategically calculated with the necessary precision.