Report Says Israel, Some Arab States Discussing Military Alliance

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, with Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, March 28, 2022.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, with Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, March 28, 2022.

Israel is to appoint a military attaché to the United States Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, Eitan Naeh, the Israeli ambassador to Manama said Monday.

"This will happen soon," Naeh told Israel's Army Radio, although a date was not set. "It is in the midst of various bureaucratic processes. I reckon that, by the summer, we will have a fuller staff, along with other officials who will join the embassy."

The ambassador’s remarks came on the second day of the ‘Negev Summit’ in the Israeli settlement of Sde Boker, involving Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper cited “sources close” to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid that Israel and the Arab states with which it has ‘normalization’ agreements – the UAE and Bahrain – brokered by the Trump administration were discussing a military alliance aimed at Iran. Saudi Arabia has stuck to the Arab League position of refusing normalization until Israel concedes Palestinian statehood.

“Already in the first conversations, and on the background of security challenges in Europe, ideas were brought up to advance a regional security architecture that will build deterrence against threats from the air and sea,” the source said, according to the Post. Israel and Arab Gulf states have opposed 11-month negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear program, although Israel recently expressed a desire to cooperate with the US.