Moroccans express solidarity with Gaza through vigils

Hundreds of Moroccans have joined protests and vigils to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied territories, as reported by The New Arab and agencies on January 17th.

People took to the streets on January 16th in cities across Morocco, including Tangiers and Agadir, with one of the largest vigils being held in front of the parliament building in the Kingdom’s capital, Rabat.

The protests denounced Israeli raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied Jerusalem, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed at least 71,000 people since October 2023, and the Moroccan government’s continuing normalisation of ties with Israel.

Some participants urged the international community to intervene as Israel has continued to violate the US-backed ceasefire deal, which came into effect on October 10th, 2025, namely through blocking aid from entering Gaza.

Under the 2020 US-brokered Abraham Accords, which sought to normalise relations between Israel and Arab countries, Morocco has increasingly developed military ties to Israel.

It was reported on January 9th that Israel and Morocco had reached a defence cooperation partnership, which would also allow Israel to expand its security reach beyond the eastern Mediterranean and Gulf by establishing military ties in North and West Africa.

Reportedly, Israel is one of Morocco’s main weapons suppliers, with the Kingdom acquiring Barak MX air defence systems from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and ATMOS 2000 self-propelled artillery systems from Elbit Systems.

This is despite both contractors, along with Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, being accused of complicity in crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Moroccan public has protested against the government’s ties to Israel numerous times since 2023, including in April 2025, when protestors took to the streets to oppose the docking of a ship carrying F-35 fighter jet components to Israel in Tangiers.

Tangiers is a port city in northwestern Morocco that previously hosted an Israeli navy warship in June 2024, with Morocco allowing the ship, which was en route between the US and Israel, to dock at the city’s port to obtain supplies and fuel before sailing to Haifa.

In July 2025, thousands gathered in Rabat to denounce the “deliberate starvation campaign” and demanded the expulsion of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat; they also accused Moroccan authorities of complicity in genocide.

Since the 1980s, Morocco has maintained ties with Israel, often without public knowledge. Notably, in 1986, a secret meeting was held in Rabat between King Hassan II, the father of King Mohammed VI, and then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

The New Arab and agencies, Maghrebi.org