Hours after the August 13 announcement of the U.S.-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, senior Bahraini officials called President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House envoy Avi Berkowitz with a message: "We want to be next," U.S. officials involved in the talks tell me.
Why it matters: Israel and Bahrain had a secret relationship for over two decades, meaning neither country had diplomatic relations and most of their contacts were through covert talks behind the scenes. However the talks which led to the joint statement on establishing full diplomatic relations took just 29 days.
The state of play: Sources familiar with the talks told me that starting August 13, intense discussions between the U.S., Bahrain and Israel started. Other than Berkowitz and Kushner, several other U.S. officials were involved in the talks including: National security adviser Robert O'Brien, Iran envoy Brian Hook, national security council Middle East director General Miguel Correa, White House official Adam Boehler and U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman....
- Kushner, Berkowitz and their team spoke with the Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, several of his top advisers and the Bahraini ambassador to Washington.
- On the Israeli side, the talks were led by the ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was closely involved.
- Unlike the Israel-UAE agreement, which was kept highly secret even from Netanyahu coalition partners, this time the White House made sure they were in the loop.
- A source familiar with the issue told me that when Kushner and Berkowitz were in Israel last Sunday, they briefed Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi about the breakthrough with Bahrain.