A historic phone call took place on Sept. 12 between Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and his counterpart from Bahrain, Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani. Unfortunately, the event was overshadowed by the drama and tempests surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ashkenazi tweeted about the exciting conversation, saying he and the Bahraini foreign minister would remain in contact with the goal of deepening diplomatic relations in the Middle East. The day before, Netanyahu had announced that Bahrain would be joining the United Arab Emirates in normalizing ties with Israel.
On Monday night, a large delegation headed by Netanyahu boarded a Boeing 777. The crowd included Netanyahu’s wife Sara, his two sons Yair and Avner, Mossad head Yossi Cohen and various officials, advisers and journalists. But Ashkenazi remained at home, as did Benny Gantz, who is both alternate prime minister and minister of defense. The only representative of the Foreign Ministry was Tal Becker, the ministry’s legal adviser who was involved in the wording of the agreement.
Netanyahu clearly had no intention of sharing the limelight around the two surprise agreements. He has never been generous with compliments or thank-yous to his political contemporaries. Tomorrow will be no different, featuring only Netanyahu, his friend US President Donald Trump, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
