Moroccans Protest Israeli Official’s Visit

Members of the Moroccan Front Against Normalisation gathered on the steps of Morocco’s parliament building in Rabat on the morning of June 7 to protest the diplomatic visit of Israeli Knesset leader Amir Ohana, according to The New Arab.

Rachid Talbi Al-Alami, the speaker of Moroccan parliament, invited Ohana after establishing a connection between their two offices.

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Ohana, currently a member of Israel’s ruling Likud party, served for six years in the Israeli Defense Forces and worked in intelligence for the Israeli General Security Service following his service. His parents were born in Morocco and emigrated to Israel in the 1950s.

“History is being made before our very eyes,” Ohana said in an official statement, promising to increase cooperation between Morocco and Israel.

Moroccan moderate Islamist party Justice and Development is planning to boycott Ohana’s visit if it takes place, according to a source inside the party.

Despite King Mohammad VI’s decision to cut ties with Israel following the Second Intifada beginning in 2000, Morocco and Israel have been taking large steps to collaborate on issues of security, military, tourism, and trade since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

However, the Moroccan public has consistently rejected normalisation efforts of the government, since 1986 Shimon Perez, Israel’s PM minister at the time, was invited by the king. Pro-Palestine activists called Rabat’s diplomatic efforts “shameful” and urged the government to immediately cut ties with “the apartheid state.”