Israel's foreign minister, Eli Cohen, made his inaugural visit to Bahrain on Sunday for discussions with high-ranking officials, as reported by state media. Accompanied by a political and commercial delegation, Cohen's two-day itinerary includes meetings with Bahrain's king and his counterpart in Manama.

This visit marks Cohen's first official trip to one of the signatories of the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords, which facilitated the normalization of relations between Israel and Bahrain, along with the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. The timing of Cohen's visit is noteworthy as it falls less than two weeks before the third anniversary of the accords in mid-September.

In recent times, Israeli actions, such as the storming of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and Israeli forces' operations in the West Bank cities of Nablus and the Palestinian camp of Jenin, have led to expressions of concern from Gulf nations.

Cohen's visit coincides with increasing speculation about a potential normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi Arabia not being a signatory to the Abraham Accords. There have been discussions between Riyadh and Washington regarding Saudi conditions for progressing toward normalization, according to individuals briefed on these meetings.

Israeli media commentators have suggested that these efforts may have been adversely affected by Israel's announcement last month of a meeting between Cohen and his then Libyan counterpart in Rome. This announcement prompted protests in Libya, a country that does not recognize Israel, and resulted in the dismissal of Najla Al Mangoush as foreign minister. Israel subsequently denied being the source of the announcement