RABAT: Morocco and Israel agreed on Tuesday to establish legal cooperation, a new step in the rapid normalization between the two allied countries, during a visit by Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar to Rabat.
The legal cooperation, sealed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding, is the first of its kind
The two parties also plan to fight together against organized crime, terrorism, and human trafficking.
This partnership follows a series of bilateral agreements in areas as diverse as defense and security, economy and industry, technology, culture, and sport.
The legal cooperation, sealed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Mr. Saar and his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Ouahbi, is the first of its kind since the resumption of diplomatic ties between Israel and Morocco at the end of 2020.
It must result in particular in a “sharing of expertise” and the modernization of judicial systems through digitization, according to a joint press release.
The two parties also plan to fight together against organized crime, terrorism, and human trafficking.
At the same time, the Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation, Issawi Frej, also visiting Morocco, met on Tuesday with the Moroccan Minister of Youth and Culture, Mehdi Bensaïd, to develop a program of cultural exchanges between young Moroccans and Israelis. .
“With Minister Bensaïd, we will work to bring citizens and the two societies closer together,” Morocco and Israel, said Mr. Frej, an Israeli Arab, Muslim and whose family is of Moroccan origin, in an interview. with the semi-official Le360 website.
The Moroccan Jewish community, estimated today at 3,000 people, remains the largest in North Africa, despite a massive departure to Israel after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.
These two visits in the same week add to an increasingly regular flow of Israeli delegations to the Cherifian kingdom.
Last week, the two countries consolidated their strategic and military alliance on the occasion of the trip of the chief of staff of the Israeli army Aviv Kochavi, a first, against a backdrop of regional security tensions.
Israel and Morocco normalized their diplomatic relations in December 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, a process between the Jewish state and several Arab countries, supported by Washington.
In return, the Trump administration recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
