The Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen is scheduled to head to Bahrain on Sunday afternoon, after weeks of postponement of the official visit by Manama, following the visit of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Cohen will meet with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani tomorrow, Monday, in addition to lower-level ministers. Cohen will also visit the U.S. Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and officially inaugurate the Israeli embassy in Manama.

As is customary, the Foreign Minister is bringing with him a business delegation to enhance trade and investment between the two countries.

Cohen will be the first senior Israeli official to make a public visit to Israel's allies under the Abraham Accords since the Netanyahu government came to power late last year. Senior Arab officials have also distanced themselves from Israel during the same period.

Although it has not been vocally critical, Bahrain joined other Arab countries in condemning Israel due to the statements of hardline ministers.

According to the "Times of Israel", there are positive signals beyond Cohen’s visit. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to the United Arab Emirates in late November to attend the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

Netanyahu also received an invitation to visit Morocco from King Mohammed VI in July after Israel announced that it would recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Cohen’s visit comes a week after a setback with another potential Arab partner. After it was revealed that he met with Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush the previous week, Cohen found himself in a firestorm over holding this public meeting. Mangoush lost her job and fled to Turkey, where Cohen faced severe criticism for angering Arab allies and the United States.

Cohen blamed "political opponents" for the backlash, and the Libya incident also revealed tensions between Netanyahu and his foreign minister. Netanyahu issued a statement saying that from now on, any sensitive meeting held by a minister in the government, and any publication of news about such a meeting, must be discussed with him first – a clear public rebuke to Cohen.

Cohen is scheduled to return to Israel on Tuesday evening.

Israel and Bahrain established full diplomatic relations in September 2020 as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, a series of diplomatic deals between the Jewish state and four Arab countries. In Bahrain, as in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, public support for the Abraham Accords is waning, and a Washington Institute poll published in July showed that 45% of Bahrainis had very or somewhat favorable views of the accords in November 2020. This support has steadily eroded to 20% by March of this year.