How Israel-Bahrain ties have flourished 3 years post-Abraham Accords

The Magazine sat down with Eitan Na’eh, Israel’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

As we look back at the Abraham Accords after three years, can you provide an update about recent events in Bahrain, such as the visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen? 

We had an excellent visit by the foreign minister, who met with the crown prince, finance minister, foreign minister, and deputy minister, as well as the trade and commerce minister. He saw the energy minister and the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Youth and Sport.

There are quite a few people-to-people relations projects that were discussed, as we see it as highly important.

There are many areas of cooperation, and we agree on what the way forward should be and what needs to be done in the region. There are no disagreements. There are none in bilateral or regional, whether challenges or moving forward with relationships. We want more economic ties and trade. We want to increase trade volume substantially. We think we can get there.

The foreign minister brought a delegation of 27 businesspeople, who had dozens of meetings during his stay and after he left. More are coming back after the High Holy Days. More investments were discussed, as well as the Negev Forum. We want to finalize the projects. Bahrain is leading in health. Israel in food security and education. We are seeing some initial interest by investors in Israel and the US to invest in the Abraham Accords countries. We see Bahrain as a gateway and hub. 

During the visit, there was an announcement that Israeli companies will open a hub. We want to create more jobs and opportunities with Bahrainis and promote Israeli experts. It is important to us that further relationships materialize. Whether it is relationships among students, interns, or young entrepreneurs, they can learn from each other’s experiences. The Middle East is a new market.

We are seeing positive signs from the Bahraini business community. During the visit, we hosted a big event where we matched the two business communities, our delegation, and high-level industrialists, fund managers, and heads of holding companies to an event opened by the ministers. 

Israeli business is expanding to the whole Gulf and India. We signed a few agreements, including one with Israel’s Securities Authority and Bahrain’s Central Bank, and others focused on cultural cooperation and people-to-people cooperation for young people under 35 years old. All in all, I think the visit has achieved most, if not all, of the goals that we have set. More people-to-people and B2B [business-to-business] and G2G [government-to-government] contacts at the highest level. It was a very good visit, and this is where relationships are going. We are busy following up on the visit with more meetings that I will hold in the coming days with all the heads of agencies to discuss how to advance on the agreed-upon issues.

Let’s look back to 2020 and the first year of the Accords. What do you remember?

When I look back, I look back to January 2021, when I first arrived in Abu Dhabi, an embassy that included myself and a soon-to-be-retired administrative officer and security personnel. We started to build the embassy and expand relationships in terms of governmental bodies and industries and the agreements; operating from hotel rooms and small flats, sending official notes from the dining room table; to what we have now in Abu Dhabi. 

Then I arrived in Bahrain as ambassador (I had been chargé d’affaires in Abu Dhabi), again only with an administrative officer, a driver, one private assistant, and security, and then expanding the contact list from 35 people to 1,000. Growing every day, this recent visit by Foreign Minister Cohen added dozens of new contacts to our list. We are building relationships and moving to larger and more comfortable purpose-fit offices, and that is what Foreign Minister Eli Cohen inaugurated. We have had an embassy since September 2021, but we inaugurated our new permanent embassy offices last week, and I emphasize the word ‘permanent.’ The permanence speaks loudly.

The government of Israel and other Israeli entities and organizations have signed about 50 agreements and MOUs [memorandum of understanding] with the Bahraini government, entities, and organizations. There are more to come shortly. We had close to 100 official visits on both sides. Here in Bahrain, we had our prime minister and president visit. In 2022, the Israeli ministers of health, economy, and foreign affairs visited; and we are planning more upcoming ministerial visits. Bahraini ministers will also go to Israel. There are more issues – some technical ones to work out, such as the routine of what we do. So it’s really when we look back beyond day to day, it’s quite a lot. 

We don’t forget we had the pandemic in the middle, which hampered visits and contacts.

So there were the difficulties of opening an embassy and recruiting people amid COVID, and we say ‘Kudos to Bahraini leadership and its courage.’ We want to build on what we have achieved so far and to further the economic opportunities. We want other people in the region to say, ‘Why are we not part of this too?’ 

How do you compare with other embassies in the region and those that Israel maintains abroad? 

There is no comparison between the UAE and Bahrain in size and resources. Bahrain is a small country of 1.5 million people, while some 10 million are in the UAE; and the UAE has a GDP equal to Israel. In size, we are equal to many medium-sized Israeli embassies around the world. I now have a few dozen people working at the embassy – some locals and Israelis.

What are some of your people-to-people projects? 

We already sent a delegation of 15 young people last year, and there is demand for additional delegations, which we will send soon. Relationships are signed by leaders but built bottom-up. Those who already visited Israel came back convinced that the relationships are important, there are economic benefits, and their views about Israel have turned 180 degrees. One senior businessperson who used to be anti-Israel said he saw something completely different when he went, and another wanted to bring his wife on the next visit. He sold shares in his companies to concentrate on doing business with Israel. Others are beginning to go to Israel. Joint investments are being considered. There is a great willingness not just by Israelis but also by Americans who support the Abraham Accords by investing in the signatory countries. Also, the Negev Forum will produce investable projects. All in all, there’s a lot of work to be done. We are pretty busy. 

What about security and the issue of Saudi ties and Iran threats? 

Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Iran-Saudi relationship are outside of my purview. My mandate is clear: It is to build an embassy. That was done by an able team from Israel that managed the project. Building an embassy is more than building an office. To build an embassy, we need staff and we need to learn about the country, its people, its history and culture, its economic interests and needs, and where those meet our interests and needs. To widen and deepen the relationships. It’s our first three years. Some embassies have been here for 50 years. We are the new guys on the block and we’ve done quite a lot. A lot has been done, including very high-level visits in a relatively short time frame. 

And regarding Israeli defense companies and ties to the US 5th Fleet? 

The foreign minister visited the 5th Fleet. We deal with all relevant issues that ambassadors and embassies do to promote relationships. This includes the relationship with CENTCOM, which is new; it’s three years old. We are grateful to the 5th Fleet and the US ambassador and his staff.

Where do you think we will be three years from now?

I see signs that trade will increase. Bahrain has a lot of raw materials such as metal and glass, and we will see more bilateral trade as more Israeli companies understand the market. It’s a steep learning curve for both Bahraini and Israeli businesspeople. We will probably see more Bahraini investments in Israel and vice versa. I hope we will see more tourists and, hopefully, an Israeli airline will land here soon. We will see more companies opening here as a hub for the wider region; and Bahrain investments in Israel... when Bahrain completes another 14 new hotels and markets them in Israel.

We are new on the block. Sometimes it creates opposition to those who don’t understand what Israelis are doing here, so we see an increase in opposing voices who don’t seem to understand that the vision is to create more opportunities for young people, more jobs, and more prosperity. My team and I spend a lot of time building relationships, focusing on the young generation, culture, and so on.

Do you think the Negev Forum will reconvene soon? It keeps getting postponed. 

I hope so. It’s important. Once projects are agreed upon and each country takes the lead on specific projects, we can begin to make real strides. As I said before, Bahrain is leading in health; Israel in food security and education. Once projects get approved, then we will bring it to the business sector and convene investors. And then to Korea, Japan, and other parts of Asia. When you look globally at supply chain issues and how they change, we can create jobs for young people by creating a hi-tech corridor between the East and the West, Manama and Israel. All these will bring opportunities and more delegations and economic events to connect to innovate, such as a regional conference, which will take place here early next year: to bring start-ups and innovators to create a hi-tech corridor from Bahrain to Israel – part of the “start-up region.”

What is the total trade figure currently? 

Around $20 million, and that doubled from last year; but not all trade is direct. The figures don’t tell the whole story; some Israeli companies are registered in third countries... that doesn’t tell the full story of the potential.

Do Bahrainis go to Israel easily without bureaucracy and visas? 

There isn’t much bureaucracy. The process for a Bahraini to get a visa to visit Israel used to take two weeks in the early days when we had a small staff. However, we have a great team in place and a process that now takes just a couple of days; and in some cases, we’re able to process it within a few hours. Many local businesspeople have requested multiple-entry visas, which is a sign of their interest in doing business together, as they want to visit several times to establish these relationships. The visa process has become very quick for locals, and I hope it will continue. 

For Israeli passport holders, they need a visa as well, and that process is equally quick and is usually done within two days and sometimes in just a matter of hours.

There is talk of a free trade agreement. 

Yes, we are very much looking forward to it. We are currently working on the details but expect it to be signed soon. I have learned over the past three years in the Gulf that we need patience. But I must say that the Bahrainis are fast learners so now we say, Inshallah, yalla. ■