Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Saturday night immediately following the conclusion of the Sabbath that the Gulf Arab nation of Bahrain will join the United Arab Emirates in signing a normalization agreement with the State of Israel.
“Citizens of Israel, I am excited to inform you that tonight we will reach another peace agreement with another Arab state, with Bahrain,” Netanyahu announced in a brief statement on the Twitter social networking site. “This joins the historic peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates.”
ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו:
"אזרחי ישראל, אני נרגש לבשר לכם שהערב נגיע להסכם שלום נוסף עם מדינה ערבית נוספת, עם בחריין. זה מצטרף להסכם השלום ההיסטורי עם איחוד האמירויות. pic.twitter.com/wIEybyZt1H— ראש ממשלת ישראל (@IsraeliPM_heb)
“There’s no more powerful response to the hatred that spawned 9/11 than the agreement that we’re about to tell you,” Trump told reporters in a briefing from the Oval Office, adding that the agreement is “very, very important, not only for the Middle East, but for the world.”
Joint Statement of the United States, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the State of Israel pic.twitter.com/xMquRkGtpM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
“Bahrain will fully normalize its diplomatic relations with Israel. They will exchange embassies and ambassadors, begin direct flights between their two countries, and launch cooperation initiatives across a broad range of sectors including health, business, technology, education, security and agriculture.”
On Saturday, “Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif Al-Zayani and Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi held a phone call,” according to an official announcement by the Bahrain Foreign Ministry, after the normalization of relations the day before.
The Bahrain Foreign Ministry said in its statement that the two ministers “stressed the need to move relations forward to promote peace and stability in the region.”