On the occasion of the first defense cooperation monitoring committee between the two countries, Rabat and Tel Aviv agreed to strengthen their collaboration in several military fields.
The announcement was made by a press release from the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) staff, released on Tuesday 17 January. Morocco and Israel, which have come closer since the diplomatic normalization carried out in December 2020 within the framework of the Abraham Accords, “agreed to strengthen this cooperation further and to expand it to other areas, in particular intelligence, air defense, and electronic warfare,” the document states.
This development follows the first meeting of the monitoring committee for Moroccan-Israeli defense cooperation, which took place Monday and Tuesday in Rabat, as part of the military rapprochement between the two countries. FAR Inspector General Belkhir El Farouk and Director of the Politico-Military Affairs Office of the Israeli Defense Ministry Dror Shalom co-chaired the meeting.
Security Memorandum of Understanding
The two parties also examined various aspects of their cooperation, including “logistics, training, and training as well as the acquisition and modernization of equipment”, details the press release. Cooperation “carrying mutual interests and based on mutual trust and support”, welcomed Belkhir El Farouk, the number two in the Moroccan army.
In November 2021, former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz signed a memorandum of understanding in Rabat governing security relations with Morocco. His historic visit was followed in July by that of former army boss Aviv Kochavi, the first by an Israeli chief of staff to the Cherifian kingdom.
This rapprochement is viewed with a dim view by Algiers, a fervent militant of the Palestinian cause, which exacerbates the already high tensions between the two countries due to deep disagreements over the Western Sahara. A situation that recently resulted in Morocco’s non-participation in the African Nations Football Championship organized by Algeria .
