Bahrain Gov’t Delegation Takes Off for ’Israeli’-Occupied Palestine on Gulf Air Flight

By Staff, Agencies

Amidst normalization with the apartheid "Israeli" entity, Bahrain's first official government delegation to the entity set off on Wednesday on the first Gulf Air commercial flight to Tel Aviv, as both look to broaden cooperation after establishing formal ties in September in a US-brokered accord.

Gulf Air flight GF972 – a reference to the “Israeli” entity’s telephone country code – took off from Manama airport in the morning bound for Tel Aviv, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

Bahrain's foreign minister, Abdullatif Al-Zayani, is leading the delegation.

President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Avi Berkowitz, is also on the flight and is leading a US delegation to Bahrain and the “Israeli” entity, he said on Twitter.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates established formal ties with the “Israeli” entity in a US-brokered deal signed at the White House on Sept. 15. Sudan has since said it would also formalize relations with the entity.

The foreign minister's trip to the “Israeli” entity will coincide with a visit there by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. They will hold a three-way meeting with Netanyahu, two diplomats briefed on the planning said.