Bahrain postpones visit by Israeli FM, likely due to Al-Aqsa storming: Israeli media

Bahrain has postponed a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen that was scheduled for next week for reasons unclear, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) said on Friday.

Neither Bahrain nor Israel officially commented on the reason for the visit’s postponement, nor was a new date.

The visit had not been previously announced, according to the IBA.

The Haaretz publication said the postponement was due to Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's schedule.

But according to Israeli commentators, IBA said this may have been because of the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday.

Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stormed Islam’s third holiest site with Israeli Jewish settlers, in a provocative act which drew condemnation from several Muslim states and other countries, including the US.

The Israeli police blocked hundreds of Palestinian worshipers from entering the mosque compound as it escorted Ben-Gvir and Jewish settlers.

It was not the first time Israeli forces and settlers have stormed the site.

Cohen's visit was supposed to be the first by a senior Israeli minister to an ally Gulf state since Benjamin Netanyahu's new hardline government was formed last October, said Haaretz.

Bahrain normalised ties with Israel in 2020, as part of the controversial US-brokered Abraham Accords. The two countries have bolstered ties in a variety of fields, in deals collectively worth billions of dollars.

The accords – which also included the United Arabi Emirates, Sudan and Morocco – were condemned by Palestinians as a betrayal of their cause.