Morocco: Book reveals Israeli role in death of opposition leader

A new book has accused Israel of being involved in the 1965 kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka, according to a report by the Middle East Eye via agencies on October 22nd.

The book, “The Ben Barka Affair: The End of Secrets,” is scheduled for publication in France later this month. It is based on unreleased documents and reports from confidential archives, which the authors claim demonstrate links between Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, and the Moroccan security apparatus.

Ben Barka was the exiled opposition leader of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) in Morocco, who opposed King Hassan II, the country’s monarch from 1961 until his death in 1999. The book also alleges that King Hassan II helped facilitate the departure of Moroccan Jews to Israel.

Ben Barka’s body was never found, although many have blamed the Moroccan state for his disappearance and presumed death after he was kidnapped at a brasserie on Paris’s left bank on October 29th, 1965.

The operation was allegedly overseen by Ahmed Dlimi, deputy director of Moroccan security, and Rafi Eitan, a prominent Israeli intelligence figure. Israeli spies were said to patrol the area around Ben Barka’s detention site, and also provided advice on how to bury his body in a forest.

Morocco sentenced Ben Barka to death in absentia over an alleged plot to overthrow the king, and for calling on Moroccan soldiers to refuse to fight against Algeria in the 1963 Sand War, after Moroccan soldiers seized two Algerian border outposts in the disputed Saoura region.

According to Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, all of Morocco’s monarchs, including King Hassan II, have supported a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Since the 1980s, Israel and Morocco have maintained secret relations, including a notable meeting in 1986 when King Hassan II secretly met with then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Rabat.

In 2020, Morocco formally re-established ties with Israel under the US-led Abraham Accords, which seek to normalise relations between Israel and Arab countries.

The book is set to be released amid deepening military ties between Morocco and Israel, including the Kingdom hosting Israeli drone tests on October 13th.

The Kingdom’s Finance Minister, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, endorsed the strengthening of economic ties to Israel at a conference in Washington, DC, on October 17th.

Israel’s largest defence contractor, Elbit Systems, is reportedly Morocco’s main weapons supplier, which provides 85 per cent of the drones used in Israel’s war on Gaza. This is despite the contractor’s alleged complicity in human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In February, Morocco finalised a deal to acquire six ATMOS 2000 self-propelled artillery systems from the Israeli firm. Since 2022, the Kingdom has reportedly signed deals with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems worth a combined $270 million.

Middle East Eye via agencies, Maghrebi.org