Morocco denounces Israel’s assault on Qatar at UN session
Morocco condemned Israel’s attack on Doha, despite seemingly growing trade ties between the two nations, signifying potential bilateral friction.
According to the pro-Moroccan government outlet Hespress English, Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN, Omar Zniber, spoke out against Israel’s attack in an emergency UN Human Rights Council session on September 16th.
Zniber described Israel’s actions as a “serious violation of international law and a grave threat to the region’s security and stability,” calling for the international community to act with “responsibility and firmness.” He also reportedly reaffirmed Rabat’s “full solidarity” with Qatar against threats to its civilians.
Morocco’s public stance on Israel has become noticeably more oppositional recently. Reportedly, ever since the International Justice Court (ICJ) ruled it was plausible a genocide was taking place in Gaza, Morocco has been slowly undoing the ties of normalisation with Israel.
Rabat seemingly believes Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank is a danger to the region and could provoke wider instability. It has condemned the forced displacement of Palestinians and reportedly considers Israel’s actions to be in breach of international humanitarian law.
Morocco’s public stance reflects that of its people, especially seeing as multiple protests have taken place in the kingdom in defiance to Israel’s approach to the conflict in Gaza.
It is important to note that these protests are also in opposition to Morocco’s growing relationship with Israel, with one protest in Rabat demanding the expulsion of the Israeli liaison office in the kingdom’s capital.
Israel has recently become Morocco’s main defence partner. The kingdom reportedly inked a deal with Israel’s Elbit Systems to purchase self-propelled artillery systems. Elbit has created weaponry for Israel.
In addition to this, Morocco allowed an Israeli naval ship carrying F-35 jet parts to dock in its Tangier port – another action people protested against.
Hespress, Maghrebi.org
Want to chase the pulse of North Africa?
Subscribe to receive our FREE weekly PDF magazine
