Bahraini Ambassador to Tel Aviv Khaled Al-Jalahma met with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid today, Thursday, and on the same day, Israel announced the appointment of its first ambassador to Manama after the normalization of relations between the two parties last year 2020.

Al-Jalahmah handed a copy of his credentials to the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, which will subsequently be handed over to Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Al-Jalahma is the fourth Arab ambassador in Israel after the ambassadors of Egypt, Jordan and the UAE. He arrived on Tuesday in Israel, where he is preparing to open the Bahrain embassy after the normalization of relations between the two parties in the framework of the so-called Abraham agreements.

Lapid praised the courageous decision of the King of Bahrain, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to establish peace with Israel and the relations that are being forged between 🇧🇭🇮🇱 “In the future, other countries that are changing the face of the Middle East will also join the circle of peace. I hope to visit Bahrain. Soon, the Israeli Embassy in Manama will be inaugurated.

— Israel in Arabic (@IsraelArabic) September 2, 2021

For his part, Lapid said that other countries in the region are watching the "strong ties" between Israel and Bahrain, stemming from what he called the "courageous decision" of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which will lead to an expanding circle of peace, as he put it.

It is expected that Lapid will soon head to Manama to inaugurate the Israeli embassy there.

The Israeli ambassador to Bahrain

In this context, Israel announced today the appointment of its first ambassador to Bahrain, according to an account of the Israeli government in Arabic on Twitter.

Ambassador Eitan Naeh, who had served for 8 months as interim head of the Israeli mission in the UAE, was chosen as the first Gulf country with which Israel establishes diplomatic relations;

That was in August of last year.

It is noteworthy that in September 2020, the UAE and Bahrain signed two US-brokered agreements to establish relations with Israel, a step that Sudan and Morocco later followed suit.

The normalization agreements were strongly condemned by the Palestinians and at the Arab and Islamic popular levels.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned Bahrain's appointment as its ambassador to Israel, and considered the move "clear support for the occupation and full partnership with it in its policies and criminality."

The movement said - in a statement - that the step taken by Bahrain reflects its insistence on the "national sin" by signing the normalization agreement with Israel about a year ago.