Israeli president Isaac Herzog meets Bahraini King Hamad in his first trip to Bahrain

4 Dec 2022: Israeli President Isaac Herzog has held talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa during the first trip by an Israeli head of state to the small Gulf kingdom.
Herzog made the trip on Sunday after the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 2020.
The leaders discussed issues that included regional security and “ways to encourage communication between the representatives of the private sector in the two countries”, the official Bahrain News Agency said.
A delegation of industry and business representatives accompanied Herzog, who was welcomed upon arrival by Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.
The king said his country supports “achieving a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace that guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and that will lead to stability, development and prosperity for both the Palestinian and Israeli peoples as well as all peoples of the region,” the news agency said.
Herzog said on Twitter that he welcomed Hamad’s “vision of peace, friendship and tolerance”.
“My visit underscores the importance Israel attaches to relations with Bahrain, including partnerships on defence, trade, tourism and environment,” he said.
“The expanding circle of peace [in the Middle East] is highly important, especially amid threats to global and regional stability,” Israel’s president said. “In the face of hate, threats and terror, there is one answer: alliances with friends.”