It has been five years since the historic signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House, when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain took the bold step of normalizing relations with Israel, followed by Morocco and Sudan. For Bahrain, the Accords reflect a pragmatic balance between supporting Palestinian rights and a two-state solution and building security and economic ties that strengthen regional stability and counter shared threats.

What makes the Abraham Accords historic is not just the signatures on paper, but the fact that they offered an alternative to decades of isolation. At a time when public opinion across the Arab world has become increasingly negative towards Israel, these agreements opened channels for dialogue, trade, and cooperation. They stand as a rational move, where countries are engaging through partnerships rather than severing ties and seeking common ground on security and prosperity while acknowledging deep divisions on Palestine.

Recent developments, including the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, the failure to reach a ceasefire or secure the release of hostages, and Israel’s attack on Hamas leadership in Doha, which drew both regional and global condemnation, have brought the Abraham Accords and the future of normalization with Israel to the forefront of discussions. Yet despite these challenges, including shifting political landscapes and growing public criticism of Israel, the Abraham Accords remain a landmark in Middle Eastern diplomacy.

Five years into the Abraham Accords, the question is no longer whether they were a breakthrough, but whether they can endure and even expand amid the turbulence of regional politics. The following sections explore how the Abraham Accords have been tested, how public opinion has shaped their trajectory, and why security and economic cooperation remain at the heart of their survival.

A Second Trump Term

One of the enduring paradoxes of the Abraham Accords is their timing. Signed in the midst of a global pandemic and just before a change of administrations in Washington, the Accords were brokered at a moment of both urgency and uncertainty. While the agreement itself was historic, the timing became a hindrance, slowing momentum and preventing faster progress in the crucial period that followed the signing. President Trump nevertheless seized that moment as a chance to broker a historic diplomatic breakthrough, forging ties between the UAE, Bahrain, and Israel, an alliance that would become an enduring pillar of US influence in the region.

The transition to the Biden administration in early 2021 witnessed diminished emphasis on the Accords, despite their strategic value. Now, with President Trump back in the White House, momentum has returned. “More countries will be added to the Abraham Accords,” he told reporters at the White House in March 2025, reasserting his determination to expand the framework. In August 2025, he went further, urging all Middle Eastern nations to join while citing the elimination of Iran’s nuclear arsenal as a historic moment that paves the way for regional unity.

The UAE and Bahrain’s bold moves have shown that partnerships, not isolation, can reshape the region’s diplomatic fabric. Importantly, those decisions also encouraged previously cautious states, such as Saudi Arabia, into beginning public discussions about normalization, a dynamic rarely seen before 2020. Even though the October 7 Gaza war reset political trajectories, the fact that such dialogue went from taboo to plausible marks a lasting evolution in regional discourse.

President Trump deserves credit, not only for engineering the original pact, but for opening a new realm of political conversation in the Arab world. With the Trump administration once again shaping US policy, efforts to expand the Abraham Accords may well transform what was once an ambitious experiment into a broader regional framework.

Normalization at Risk

The October 7 attacks has once again created a reality where violence, bloodshed, and hate strongly dominate Israeli and Palestinian relations, spilling over into the wider region. Hamas, widely recognized as a terrorist organization, carried out brutal assaults on civilians, acts that shocked the world and affirmed the dangers posed by extremist groups. Israel responded with overwhelming force in Gaza, a reaction that, while aimed at dismantling Hamas, has deepened suffering for ordinary Palestinians and cast a long shadow over regional efforts towards normalization.

The human misery in Gaza cannot be ignored, not by the people of the region nor by their governments. The devastation has fueled public anger, hardened attitudes towards Israel, and made it more difficult for Arab states to openly pursue the path of dialogue envisioned by the Abraham Accords. Yet the war has also laid bare another fundamental reality, the network of terrorist and extremist groups, spearheaded by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, must be confronted and defeated if the region is to know peace.

Israel has, since October 7, framed its campaign as a war on terror. But its heavy-handed approach in Gaza has complicated international and regional recognition of that effort. The tragedy is that while Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are sworn enemies not only of Israel and the West but also of Arab nations such as Bahrain, Israel’s campaign has blurred the distinction between fighting extremists and punishing civilians.

It can be argued that supporters of normalization stress that Israel should have calibrated its response more carefully, directing its strength against Iran’s proxies and extremist networks, while sparing the Palestinian people further misery. In doing so, it would have advanced its security goals while preserving space for dialogue and normalization. Instead, the Gaza war has become both a humanitarian catastrophe and a political setback, testing the very resilience of the Abraham Accords.

The Public Opinion Challenge

Public opinion towards normalization with Israel remains one of the most contentious issues across the Arab world, and Bahrain is no exception. The Palestinian right to self-determination is not only a political cause but also a matter of Arab identity and religious resonance. While this cannot be dismissed, it must also be recognized that public attitudes towards the Abraham Accords are complex and often difficult to quantify.

From September 2020 until October 2023, opposition to normalization may have existed, but it was not necessarily the foremost issue on the minds of ordinary citizens. The Gaza war changed that. Images of destruction and suffering gave new visibility to anti-Israel sentiment, and in today’s hyper connected media environment, such narratives spread not only across the region but globally. Against this backdrop, it is natural that anger and frustration have become more openly expressed.

A recent development has further complicated the debate around public opinion. The attack on Hamas leadership in Doha, which resulted in the death of a Qatari national, has been widely viewed as a breach of international law. While Qatar may not have been the intended target, it is nonetheless a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and for Gulf citizens, whether Bahraini, Emirati, or others, such an incident carries deep emotional and symbolic weight. Gulf ties are stronger than often appreciated, rooted in a shared Khaleeji identity that unites people across borders.

For Israel, these actions create an even greater challenge in winning hearts and minds across the region. Public opinion cannot be expected to soften towards a state seen as striking within the Gulf, even if indirectly. If the current Israeli government aspires to peace and broader regional acceptance, it must understand that stability in its relations with Gulf nations depends on respecting this unique identity and avoiding actions that undermine the fragile progress of normalization.

Alongside these challenges, the Abraham Accords have offered an alternative path. For the first time, Bahrainis and Israelis can engage directly, whether through dialogue, debate, or cultural exchange. These conversations may not happen at the scale one might hope for, but the very possibility represents progress. Normalization has created an avenue for discussion that did not previously exist, even if those discussions are often heated or uncomfortable.

In Bahrain, public opinion remains broadly negative towards Israel, especially in light of recent events. But the Abraham Accords have succeeded in opening a door that cannot easily be closed. They have created a platform for dialogue, however limited, it offers the possibility of building mutual understanding in the long term. More must be done to strengthen these people to people ties, not to erase differences, but to ensure that the fight against violence and extremism remains a shared priority.

It is also important to acknowledge that not all public sentiment in Bahrain is organic. While much of it reflects a natural reaction to the devastation of war, some of it is amplified by extremist political groups seeking to exploit the Palestinian cause for their own agendas. In Bahrain, groups influenced by the ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran have historically tried to leverage regional conflicts to incite domestic unrest. This does not mean that all criticism of Israel is insincere or politically motivated, but it does highlight the extent to which extremist factions attempt to capitalize on legitimate grievances.

Recent protests in Bahrain illustrate this distinction. While some were genuinely driven by solidarity with the Palestinian people, others revealed signs of political exploitation. Videos circulated showing small groups of protesters provoking and attacking policemen under the banner of pro Palestine demonstrations. These incidents were concentrated in opposition strongholds and, rather than reflecting broad national sentiment, were attempts to use the Palestinian cause as an excuse to create domestic disturbance and chaos in Bahrain.

Shared Threats

Security cooperation has always stood at the forefront of the Abraham Accords. For Bahrain and Israel, the shared threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its regional militias provides a strong basis for collaboration. Bahrain understands more than most the dangers posed by Tehran and its proxies, from destabilizing propaganda to armed militancy across the region. Israel, too, faces the direct consequences of Iran’s influence through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen. The Accords therefore created not just diplomatic ties, but a framework for security alignment against a common adversary.

The reality is that extremists represent a threat to both ends of the Abraham Accords, and over the long run, enhanced security cooperation is essential. This collaboration is not only bilateral, it is anchored in the presence of the US, which remains at the heart of regional security structures. Washington’s support lends credibility and capacity, ensuring that joint initiatives between Bahrain, Israel, and other Accords members are more than symbolic, they are operational.

The global implications of such cooperation became clear when the Houthis escalated their attacks in the Red Sea, targeting international shipping. These strikes forced the rerouting of trade lines, disrupted global supply chains, and inflicted significant costs on the world economy. Bahrain joined Operation Prosperity Guardian, led by the US, as the only Arab nation willing to stand on the front lines of this effort to protect freedom of navigation. That decision affirmed Bahrain’s commitment to international security and highlighted how the spirit of the Abraham Accords extends beyond bilateral diplomacy into collective action that safeguards the global order.

“I think our condemnation must be to both. I condemn Hamas unequivocally. This is so everybody in the room can understand that I stand on the side of civilians and innocents and not on the side of political posturing. The attacks on 7 October were barbaric, were  how can I put it, they were horrific, they were indiscriminate, they killed women, children, elderly; did not matter. They hit civilian institutions, and they hit military targets. And on top of that, it seems it’s okay now to grab hostages and take them away and speak about it as if it’s an act of war. That is something that we condemn, and we condemned it on 9 October, I believe, or 8 October.” HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Manama Dialogue 2023

Bahrain has made it clear that while it values security cooperation with Israel, it also remains committed to a just resolution of the Palestinian crisis. The Kingdom has consistently called for a two-state solution and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, while stressing that the path to peace requires justice for Palestinians as well as security for Israelis. At the 2023 Manama Dialogue, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa became the first Arab leader to publicly condemn Hamas’ October 7 attacks. His words reflected Bahrain’s balanced stance, rejecting Hamas’ terrorism while urging restraint and dialogue to prevent further civilian suffering.

Not all forms of security cooperation are announced publicly, but the very possibility of deeper coordination between Abraham Accords states marks an important step forward. This cooperation is not about confrontation, but about building bridges, avoiding escalation, and ensuring that extremism is contained before it destabilizes nations. In this regard, Bahrain has consistently demonstrated its reliability as a partner, working closely with allies to secure both its own stability and the wider region’s.

The Abraham Accords show that security partnerships are not simply about deterrence. They are about creating an environment where extremism, whether fueled by ideology or state sponsorship, finds no safe haven.

Trade, Technology, and Investment

Despite its growth, economic cooperation between Bahrain and Israel remains modest and has significant room for expansion. Publicly available data indicates that bilateral trade rose during 2024, yet it still represents a small share of Bahrain’s overall economy. In other words, economic ties with Israel are still a drop in the ocean of Bahrain’s diversified economy, and more can be achieved.

The early phase of normalization saw visible progress in connectivity. Gulf Air launched weekly flights to Tel Aviv, signaling new openness in travel and commerce. These flights were suspended after October 7, which showed how quickly conflict can derail normalization. Israel’s national carrier, El Al, never began Israel and Bahrain flights, which was a missed opportunity for deeper business and people to people engagement.

Economic ties play a crucial role in shaping the narrative of normalization. Stronger trade, investment, and professional exchanges reinforce the idea that cooperation, rather than confrontation, should be the norm. Bahrain’s young population would benefit from job opportunities in sectors such as technology, finance, and innovation. Direct professional collaboration can break down stereotypes and strengthen the social fabric that peace is built on.

Given the current geopolitical tensions and the ongoing war, expanding economic ties is a challenge, but not an impossibility. The rise in trade in 2024 shows that there is real potential. Enhancing relations requires practical steps, more joint projects, investment in startups, and professional exchanges. These efforts can turn small scale trade into meaningful and lasting economic cooperation.

The Road Ahead

While challenges and deep differences persist, the Abraham Accords stand as a success. They have created a path that did not exist before, and this path continues to prevail even in the most difficult of times. The Palestinian crisis, and particularly the ongoing Gaza war, remains at the heart of the obstacles to bringing people closer together.

When this war ends, the focus should return to expanding the promise of the Abraham Accords. They can become a model of peaceful coexistence, where the plight of Palestinians is addressed with justice, Israelis live in peace without fear of terrorism, and extremist ideologies are firmly rejected. In such a future, death and destruction no longer define Jewish and Arab relations, but cooperation and shared humanity do.

The Abraham Accords remain historic thanks to the vision of leaders such as His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. While many may disagree with or criticize US President Donald Trump on other issues, his role in brokering the Accords deserves recognition. Israelis who have supported and advanced the cause of peace through the Abraham Accords also deserve credit. Any step towards peace, no matter how contested, is an effort worth commending.