-Analysis-
For anyone who believes the Arab world has a single, unified position on Israel, the Kingdom of Morocco is worth a look.
Yes, Moroccan officials have repeatedly criticized Israel's onslaught after Oct. 7, called for a ceasefire and continue to back the creation of a free and independent Palestinian state. But the Moroccan government has refrained from freezing its ties with Israel or withdrawing its envoy in Tel Aviv, even as thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have repeatedly demanded so in the streets of Morocco’s largest cities.
To understand why, as the Israel-Hamas war drags into its fifth month, it’s worth noting that Morocco recently marked the four-year anniversary of establishing ties with the Jewish state, as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in late 2020.
Yet Morocco had long crafted one of the most careful positions in the Arab World, in part because a Jewish community has continued to exist there, unlike many other countries in the region where Jews were forced to flee over the past century.
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The monarchy led by King Mohammed VI, which won diplomatic concessions in return for having ties with Israel, sees the war in Gaza as a delicate topic to manage as the Palestinian cause remains immensely popular among its population.
Said Saddiki, professor of International Relations and International Law at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, said Morocco has found itself trapped between “the hammer of geopolitical interests” with Israel and “the anvil of popular pressure and its historical commitments” towards the Palestinians.
“Morocco will remain under pressure as long as the war continues,” he wrote in November,” adding that the “moral aspects of this war constitute a great pressure on Moroccan foreign policy makers.”
Protests against Abraham Accords
The normalization deal came with a major achievement for Morocco. It included the U.S. recognition — and eventually Israel — of its claim to Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that has long fought for independence.
Before the war in Gaza, the monarchy exhibited a heavy hand with domestic opponents of Israel, with authorities cracking down on anti-normalization protests and broke up sit-ins outside the Parliament. In July, a court in Casablanca sentenced a prominent blogger to five years in prison for undermining the monarchy over his criticism of normalization.
The protest movement demanded the government take a firmer stance against Israel
The popular protests swelled after Oct. 7, and the ballooning casualties among civilians in Gaza, drawing thousands of protesters every week to the streets in Rabat and other Moroccan cities. The protests have been supported by many Islamist and leftist political parties, professional unions and associations.
The protest movement demanded the government take a firmer stance against Israel, including freezing the normalisation deal and expelling the Israeli ambassador, as was done in Jordan and Bahrain, which also have had diplomatic ties with Israel.
A Jewish minority
The government rejected such a move. In November, Morocco joined eight other Arab nations including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, to veto an Arab League proposal that called for cutting ties with Israel.
Hespress, one of the leading Moroccan media outlets, reported in November that Rabat wouldn’t take measures that could jeopardize its ties with Israel and the benefits it gained from the normalisation.
The outlet quoted Saeed Berkenan, a Moroccan political analyst, as saying that Morocco-Israel ties are based on “strategic agreements” to achieve “significant mutual interests.”
He also said that Morocco's role in pushing regional peace is different than other Arab nations, given the significant Moroccan Jewish minority in Israel.
Some are paralyzed by fear
“Morocco is certain that its role in achieving a settlement to Gaza’s problems and the Palestinian cause would be more effective if it has ties with Israel,” he said. “I think Morocco is qualified to be a good peace negotiator between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
Reverberations in Europe
The monarch has also expanded its crackdown on the growing criticism of its ties with Israel among Moroccans in Europe.
In Spain, where many of the mosques are funded by Morocco, there has been an unofficial ban on imams publicly denouncing the war in Gaza, reports Madrid-based digital news site El Confidencial.
Why, despite their empathy for the population of Gaza are the Muslim authorities silent? “Some are paralyzed by fear,” Mohamed Ben Abderrahman, an imam in the Spanish coastal city of Tarragona, told El Confidencial. “There are (Moroccan) groups inviting us to forget Gaza.”