MANAMA, Bahrain — Prime Minister Naftali Bennett became the first Israeli leader to make an official visit to the small Gulf state of Bahrain on Monday, a historic trip that highlighted the strengthening ties between Israel and some Arab governments.
Mr. Bennett’s visit, unthinkable a few years ago, builds on a diplomatic thaw that began in 2020 when Israel forged formal ties for the first time with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, and improved relations with two other Arab states, Morocco and Sudan.
Bahrain is a tiny but strategically important country, and is widely considered a proxy for Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s most powerful state.
The visit underscores the shifting geopolitical priorities of some Arab leaders who are now more concerned about containing a nuclear Iran — a concern they share with Israel — than they are about pressing Israel to reach a swift conclusion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Their support for the Palestinians had previously deterred all Arab states apart from Egypt and Jordan from formalizing ties with Israel.
An oil-producing island nation of 1.5 million, Bahrain wields much less regional influence than the Emirates, which Mr. Bennett visited in December, and which provides financing and military support to allies across the region.
But Mr. Bennett’s visit to Manama, the Bahraini capital, hints at tacit support for greater Israeli-Arab ties from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials have said that Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israel until an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached. But analysts believe Bahraini leaders would never act against Saudi wishes.
Saudi troops helped the Bahraini royal family crush an uprising during the Arab Spring in 2011 that threatened their power, and Saudi military support remains crucial for the country. Along with Kuwait and the Emirates, Saudi Arabia also bailed out the Bahraini economy when oil prices plummeted in 2018.
Bahrain is also an ally of the United States and houses the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Saudi leaders have previously hinted that they may be preparing to shift their official position on Israel.
In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Israelis had the right to their own land. In 2020, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a senior Saudi royal, said Palestinian leaders had betrayed their people. Both comments were major departures from previous Saudi positions.
Israeli media reported in 2020 that the prime minister, then Benjamin Netanyahu, had secretly met with Prince Mohammed in Saudi Arabia, though Saudi officials denied it.
Saudi Arabia also now allows Israeli planes to use Saudi airspace — Mr. Bennett flew over the country on his way to Bahrain on Monday.
He arrived Monday night and was greeted by two government ministers and an honor guard of dozens of soldiers who lined a red carpet. The Bahraini foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, escorted Mr. Bennett through the airport, both men smiling and chatting.
Mr. Bennett is expected to meet Tuesday with the Bahraini king, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, as well as his son, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is the kingdom’s prime minister and crown prince.
A Sunni Muslim dynasty that has ruled Bahrain since 1783, the Khalifa family presides over a mainly Shiite citizenry that has long complained of discrimination. The al-Khalifa family shares Israel’s fears about Iran, a Shiite-majority state across the Persian Gulf from Bahrain.
Bahraini leaders have often accused Iran of encouraging unrest among the country’s Shiite majority; in the 1980s, Bahrain said it had foiled two pro-Iran coup plots. Israel has been fighting a shadow war with Iran for years, and wants to curb Iran’s regional influence and prevent it from building a nuclear bomb.
Speaking to reporters at the airport before his plane took off, Mr. Bennett said, “Especially in these tumultuous times it’s important that from this region we send a message of good will, of cooperation of standing together against common threats and of building bridges to the future.”
Mr. Bennett’s visit began amid speculation that Iran and five world powers would shortly sign a new agreement to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. An earlier deal collapsed in 2018 after the Trump administration pulled out of the arrangement. Israel is not a party to the new negotiations, but it opposes a new deal that does not do enough to curb Iran’s nuclear program or thwart its support for proxies in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
By flying to Bahrain, Mr. Bennett achieves a victory denied to his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who brokered the original deals with countries like Bahrain. Mr. Netanyahu reluctantly canceled three visits to the Emirates and Bahrain last winter, partly because of issues related to the pandemic and partly because Emirati leaders did not want to become embroiled in his re-election campaign.
Mr. Bennett’s meeting builds on the steady progress since 2020 in Israeli-Bahraini relations, at both a state and civilian level.
The trip follows a visit earlier this month to Manama by Benny Gantz, the Israeli defense minister, who formalized security cooperation between the two countries. Israel and Bahrain also participated in a joint naval drill, along with the United States and the Emirates.
The value of bilateral trade between Israel and Bahrain has increased since 2020, rising from nothing in the first six months of 2020 to $300,000 in the first half of 2021, according to data cited in September by an Israeli official.
Israeli and Bahraini banks have also reached cooperation agreements, and their respective water authorities have agreed to share expertise and technology.
Bahrain has not used its stronger ties with Israel to publicly push for concessions to the Palestinians.
Many Palestinians feel betrayed by deepening ties between Israel and the Gulf States, while opinion polling suggested a majority of Arabs across the Middle East oppose the diplomatic thaw.
Myra Noveck contributed reporting.
