Moroccan hackers announce cyber attack against Israel

A Moroccan hacker group has announced cyber attacks against Israel, possibly signalling the Moroccan public’s increasing objection to the Kingdom’s Israeli ties, according to the pro-Moroccan Yabiladi and agencies on March 4th.

In a statement, the Moroccan Black Cyber Army said: “We declare a massive and destructive cyberattack on the official website of the TCS telecommunications company in Tel Aviv.”

The group added that it would disrupt “all communication services and servers internally and externally within the Zionist entity.”

Reportedly, this cyber attack plan is linked to Israel’s war on Iran, which launched airstrikes and coordinated cyber attacks against Iranian news agencies and sent text messages to Iranian citizens that urged them to rise up against the regime.

News of this coordinated attack also comes amid rising condemnation of Morocco’s Israeli ties, which were officially normalised in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

Additionally, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI accepted Donald Trump’s invitation to join the so-called “Board of Peace” in January, despite concerns over the lack of Palestinian representation on the board.

The board would oversee the reconstruction and governance of Gaza, but some argue that by demanding Hamas’ expulsion from government, the Palestinians’ right to self-determination is undermined.

Pro-Palestine Moroccan activists have also condemned Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s involvement in the board, despite Netanyahu being the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over his alleged complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Netanyahu has also faced condemnation for his alleged backing of violent Jewish settlers, who seek to establish settlement outposts in the occupied territories, including Gaza.

In January, Israel and Morocco reached a defence partnership, despite concerns that Israeli defence contractors are complicit in war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Despite public opposition to Morocco’s “Board of Peace” participation, Morocco has received praise for its normalisation of Israeli ties, including from its Gulf ally, Bahrain.

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa accepted Trump’s invitation to join the “Board of Peace” in January, a decision the Bahrain Foreign Ministry said reflects the Kingdom’s “commitment to support the full implementation” of Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan.

Morocco’s Israeli ties have persisted for decades, such as in 1986 when King Hassan II, the father of Mohammed VI, held secret talks in Rabat with then-Israeli PM Shimon Peres.

Hassan II allegedly helped facilitate the emigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel, which Israel encourages due to its desire to maintain a Jewish demographic majority.

Yabiladi and agencies, Maghrebi.org