DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: The first known direct commercial flightbetween Israel and Bahrain landed Wednesday in the island kingdom, just aweek after it signed a deal alongside the United Arab Emirates to normalizerelations, foreign media reported.
Flight data showed an Israir Airlines Airbus A320 landed at BahrainInternational Airport after a nearly three-hour flight from Tel Aviv’sBen-Gurion International Airport. There was no immediate acknowledgement ofthe flight from the Israeli government, though Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu on Tuesday spoke by telephone to Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salmanbin Hamad Al Khalifa. Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Bahrain’s state-run media did not immediately acknowledge the flight.Officials on the island off the coast of Saudi Arabia did not immediatelyrespond to requests for comment. The US Embassy in Manama similarly did notrespond to a request for comment.
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The flight was made without ceremony, in sharp contrast to the first El Alflight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates at the end of August. Thatplane carried US and Israeli officials, including President Donald Trump’sson-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as media.
