Israeli television channel i24NEWS announced on Tuesday the opening of two offices in Morocco, becoming the first Israeli-based media outlet to set up shop in the country, which has signed a normalization agreement with the Jewish state.
“The opening of these offices is part of i24NEWS’ desire to expand its activities internationally: Paris, New York, Washington, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Los Angeles, Dubai and now Rabat and Casablanca,” said announced the channel in a press release.
Launched in 2013 by billionaire Patrick Drahi – of Moroccan, French, Israeli and Portuguese nationality – the channel broadcasts information continuously in three languages (French, English and Arabic).
“We are responding to the expectations of the Moroccan public by opening two new studios in the country,” said CEO Franck Melloul in this press release.
Morocco restored relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the “Abraham Accords”, a process of normalization between the Jewish state and Arab countries supported by the US administration of former President Donald Trump.
The two countries had already established diplomatic relations in the early 1990s before Rabat ended them at the start of the second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s against the Israeli occupation.
These normalization agreements, to which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have also adhered, have however been castigated by the Palestinian leaders, who denounce a “treason” on the part of these Arab countries.
The i24NEWS channel also signed an agreement in December 2020 with the conglomerate Abu Dhabi Media allowing an “exchange” of content between their editorial staff based in the two countries, in the wake of the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
