Netanyahu to Bahraini Trade Minister: We’re Widening the Circle of Peace

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday morning with the Bahraini Minister for Trade, Industry and Tourism, Sheikh Zayed Bin Rashid Al-Zayani, who is heading a delegation of government officials and businessmen that arrived in Israel on Tuesday.

Netanyahu welcomed the minister to Israel. “Welcome, Your Excellency, Mr. Zayed Al-Zayani, and your distinguished delegation.

“These are wondrous days. This is the day when we realize peace, because of the courageous decision made by King Hamad, because of the extraordinary energy and initiative of Bahrainis and Israelis who are eager to embrace one another, to get to know one another, to do business with one another in all there is: in tourism and commerce and industry. You have quite a few portfolios, I have to say, and evidently you do very, very well with that.

“We’ve signed some agreements. We have more to go, and more importantly, I think we understand this is a real peace — a peace between our peoples, a peace that will open economic benefits that were unimaginable just a few months ago, but now are coming to be. And I think this will broaden the circle of peace not only for our own two peoples, but for all countries in the Middle East and perhaps beyond.

“So I want to welcome you in the spirit of peace and prosperity and cooperation and friendship. Welcome.”

The prime minister added: “President Trump and his able peace team deserve a great deal of credit for helping bring this peace agreement about. I would say that it’s flourishing in many ways, including on COVID. We’ll discuss cooperation on this, because things here are also moving at a very rapid pace. As you know, they’re starting to inoculate in Britain. We’re expecting inoculations here very soon as well.”