Inside the Parliament in Rabat, the atmosphere is warm between the speaker of the Moroccan House of Representatives and the head of the Israeli Parliament.
The two men signed parliamentary agreements which testify to the will of the two countries to deepen their cooperation. This visit, described as historic, is the first official trip by a speaker of the Israeli parliament to a Muslim country. But this rapprochement does not please part of Moroccan public opinion.
And in front of Parliament, it’s a completely different atmosphere. A hundred demonstrators gathered to protest against the presence of the Speaker of the Knesset. A rally at the call of a local pro-Palestinian organization.
“We cannot accept that the head of the Israeli parliament can come here with complete impunity, whereas this Israeli parliament is currently a far-right parliament and a parliament where the fascists dominate, and which comes here to be received by the Moroccan Parliament”, explains Abdelhamid Amine, activist of the Moroccan Front for the support of Palestine and against normalization.
The visit comes as Israel’s ambassador to Morocco is expected to return to his post next month. He had been recalled following accusations of sexual abuse. Morocco normalized its diplomatic relations with Israel in December 2020 at the instigation of Washington. In return, the United States recognized Rabat’s “sovereignty” over Western Sahara. The kingdom now hopes that Israel, in turn, will recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over this former Spanish colony.
