Pro-Palestinian protesters call on Morocco to condemn Gaza massacre
Morocco’s lack of action regarding Israel’s repeated pummeling of Gaza has sparked outrage as more call for an end to a normalisation of ties with the country, reports Morocco World News.
Since Hamas’ assault on Israel at the beginning of last month, Israel, continually backed by the United States and United Kingdom, have been ruthless in Palestinian territories, more specifically Gaza.
In solidarity with Gaza, a territory under siege, Moroccans took to the streets of multiple cities recently, donning keffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and exclaiming anti-Israel slogans.
Khaled, a protester at a demo in Kenitra, near the capital Rabat, said, “The resistance in Palestine liberated us from our fear. Now we are never leaving the streets until they publicly announce the fall of the shameful normalisation with the Zionist entity,” .
Protests of the kind have have happened in Morocco and indeed in the rest of the Maghreb region since October 7.
It has been reported that four Moroccan citizens were killed in Gaza which angered the already buoyant crowd as they call on the government to evacuate citizens in the enclave. Morocco’s Embassy in the West Bank city of Ramallah noted that 614 Moroccans were wishing to be evacuated from Gaza.
READ: Moroccan activists call on king to cut ties with Israel
In neighbouring Tunisia, a vote on a bill that would criminalise normalisation with Israel which was meant to take place on October 30 was postponed.
The move stoked outrage amongst thousands as they demonstrated outside the parliament in Tunis, feeling that they had been betrayed by the political class.
On November 19, the Islamist Moroccan Justice and Development Party (PJD) organised a festival in support of Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and condemnation from the Moroccan government.
The PJD, who recently claimed that Hamas’ unprecedented attack last month was a natural and just response to the Israeli occupation, initially were supportive of having relations with Israel back in 2020 however they have since retreated, affirming that they learnt from their mistakes.
“The normalisation was a mistake we made. But we say it: we were always, and we will always be, against the normalisation,” said the head of the party Abdelillah Benkiran.
As of November 21, the death toll in Gaza is 13,500, many of whom were children.
Morocco World News
