Normalization is tearing Morocco apart

On December 22nd, 2020, a trilateral agreement between the kingdom of Morocco, the United States and Israel resulted in the signing of the Abraham Accords, officially adding Morocco to the list of Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel.

In exchange, Donald Trump issued a presidential proclamation recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Since then, Moroccan officials and Zionist entities have worked hard to promote ties with Israel to a population that vehemently stands in solidarity with Palestinians.

Moroccan state-sponsored media focused on the US recognition of Western Sahara, leaving out any mention of normalization with Israel. The Western Sahara — a region rich in phosphates, fisheries, and possibly offshore oil and gas — was part of the pre-colonial Moroccan sultanate before being colonized by Spain in the late 19th century. On November 13, 2020, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, a Sahrawi liberation movement, broke the ceasefire after weeks of rising tensions over the Guerguerat buffer zone. One month later, Morocco joined the Abraham Accords.

State officials called it a diplomatic win. But as Gaza burns and starves today, Moroccans see only betrayal as their country grows its complicity in a genocide.

Moroccan officials and Zionist entities have worked hard to promote ties with Israel to a population that vehemently stands in solidarity with Palestinians.

Reframing normalization

Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s foreign minister, sugarcoated the normalization narrative. He claimed that “normalization” is a Middle Eastern term, since Morocco is only “resuming ties” after they were severed in response to Israeli repression of Palestinians during the second intifada in 2000.

Bourita stressed that the reopening of liaison offices is for the benefit of the roughly 700,000 Moroccan Jews living in Israel. As many remained unconvinced, officials confirmed Morocco’s advocacy for a two-state solution remains unchanged. However, for many Moroccans, the two-state solution died with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin at the hands of the same extremist ideology that rules Israel today.

Morocco historically had the largest Jewish population in the MENA region, numbering around 250,000. During the colonial era, Jews enjoyed certain protections and access to education, although they were socially marginalized in some cities. During World War II, King Muhammad V had refused to apply the anti-Semitic laws of the protectorate imposed by the Vichy regime in France, just as he later opposed Jewish emigration to Israel, fearing it would fuel Arab nationalist backlash. Zionist activity — especially from Jewish youth organizations and networks like He-Halutz and Mossad LeAliyah Bet — facilitated Jewish emigration to British-Mandated Palestine.

October 7 and the collapse of a myth

The aftermath of October 7 has proven the aspirations of normalization to be nothing but a myth, as there will be no peace in the region while Israel occupies Palestine. Meanwhile, normalizing Arab states, including Morocco, have done almost nothing to halt the Israeli genocide or alleviate the suffering in Gaza, failing even to challenge the blockade that starves Palestinians.

The aftermath of October 7 has proven the aspirations of normalization to be nothing but a myth, as there will be no peace in the region while Israel occupies Palestine.

After the attacks, Ahmed Charaï, president of the conglomerate Global Media Holding, published a provocative article titled “We Are All Israelis.” Charaï labeled Hamas a “terrorist” group and called for its elimination. His words shocked Moroccans and sparked fierce backlash. Though not an official spokesperson, Charaï claimed to represent all Moroccans, revealing deep Zionist infiltration of Moroccan media.

According to the “Taza before Gaza” narrative, which prioritizes Moroccan interests over support for Palestine, Hamas — often portrayed as a fundamentalist group backed by Iran and tied to Algeria — is blamed for the American-backed genocide. The narrative is often defended by shows airing on MedRadio, which is owned by Global Media Holding. On shows like the “Var Room,” not only was normalization publicly defended by hosts and guests, but the same talking points used by Israeli spokespersons also surfaced.

Dozens of Zionist-Moroccan NGOs and institutions have been created to solidify normalization and foster a favorable opinion of Israel within Moroccans. In a joint statement led by the Moroccan-Israeli Friendship Association (MIFA), October 7 was described as a “black day” for the Jewish people, and Hamas was labeled a terrorist group whose actions were likened to those of the Nazis. The statement also affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. However, MIFA failed to address the war crimes Israel has committed since then.

Silencing dissent on university campuses

Israeli outreach expanded into all critical sectors, including security, trade, intelligence and agriculture. Normalization extended into academia in an effort to manufacture consent for the Israeli settler-colonial project. Moroccan universities remain spaces where Moroccan youth will first encounter strong, organized Palestinian activism — mainly through Islamist and leftist student unions like the National Union of Moroccan Students (UNEM). Thus, some of Morocco’s most prominent academic institutions and universities have formed partnerships with Israeli counterparts, and the kingdom’s crackdown on anti-Zionist protests began on campuses.

Students, particularly those advocating for divestment from Israeli universities, have faced restrictions and surveillance. In 2024, Abdelmalek Essaadi University closed its doors for four days to prevent students from holding the sixth edition of the Al-Quds convention. This was not an isolated incident; earlier, in 2022, Ibn Tofail University also shut its doors for three days to block the fifth edition of the convention, following a violent police crackdown in which three UNEM students were arrested and detained.

The Abraham Accords excluded Palestinians from the outset. As time passed, it became evident that these agreements are meant to eliminate the Palestine question and pave the way for a singular Israeli state endorsed by most despotic Arab regimes. The key hurdle standing in the way of this objective is Gaza, and the Palestinian, and Arab, and leftist resistance factions aligned with it.

As Morocco was engulfed by Zionist initiatives across all sectors, opposition increased and tensions rose. The Moroccan Front for Supporting Palestine and Anti-normalization, a coalition of various leftist, Islamist, and labor entities, intensified their protests, calling on Morocco to sever ties with the apartheid state.

The Abraham Accords excluded Palestinians from the outset. As time passed, it became evident that these agreements are meant to eliminate the Palestine question and pave the way for a singular Israeli state endorsed by most despotic Arab regimes. The key hurdle standing in the way of this objective is Gaza, and the Palestinian, and Arab, and leftist resistance factions aligned with it.

Letting the enemy in

Despite these arrests, Moroccans protest daily in rejection of what they see as Zionist infiltration in a country that has changed allegiances since normalization.

As Israeli-backed brutality in Gaza intensified, pro-Israel voices grew even louder. Predictably, when confronted, they justify Israeli crimes by pinning the blame on Hamas entirely. When the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, Charaï criticized the court’s decision in The Times of Israel, claiming it undermines Israel’s right to self-defense and, by extension, empowers terror groups such as Hamas. Moreover, he argued that the ICC’s move is an attack on democracy itself as the court was originally established to pursue justice in failed states.

The Moroccan public grew even more infuriated as the Foreign Ministry’s decision to condemn the violence in the region — while stopping short of denouncing Israeli actions as genocide — was construed as an attempt to mislead public opinion, as this stance clearly equates “the victim with the executioner.”

As Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev was warmly welcomed in Morocco, a Hamas convoy was denied entry visas to attend a convention of the Islamist Justice and Development Party. Meanwhile, Morocco’s neighbor, Spain — along with countries like Norway and Ireland — has formally recognized the state of Palestine after rejecting the docking of Maersk ships at its shores.

As Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev was warmly welcomed in Morocco, a Hamas convoy was denied entry visas to attend a convention of the Islamist Justice and Development Party. 

Allegiances and betrayals

Strong domestic backing of Moroccan-Israeli relations often clashes with equally strong Palestinian solidarity efforts from activists and nonpartisan citizens. This rift continues to deepen, especially as Morocco faces mounting accusations of complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. As Moroccans grew resentful of their state’s position, protests intensified. This indignation only increased with the state’s decision to detain anti-normalization activists, especially those active within the Front.

A prominent incident involved 13 activists from BDS Morocco who, according to a recent statement, were sentenced to six months in prison and fined 2,000 MAD each for their involvement in boycotting Carrefour — a company seen as complicit in the Gaza genocide for supplying aid to IOF soldiers. This reality of detention has already befallen many other activists, especially members of the banned Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan group. Activist Redouane Al-Kastit was recently sentenced to two years in prison over a Facebook post — an outcome that would have been unthinkable before normalization.

The Moroccan people are deeply empathetic to the Palestinian cause. Moroccan streets fill with demonstrations each time Palestinians come under Israeli aggression—often at great political risk as they go against the choices of their state. Despite strong Morocco-Israeli ties, the people never fail to remind Palestinians of a brotherhood stretching back 750 years, when Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi named a quarter in Jerusalem the Moroccan Quarter (Ḥārat al-Maghāriba) to commemorate their assistance in reclaiming the city from the Crusaders.

Despite strong Morocco-Israeli ties, the people never fail to remind Palestinians of a brotherhood stretching back 750 years, when Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi named a quarter in Jerusalem the Moroccan Quarter to commemorate their assistance in reclaiming the city from the Crusaders.

From football chants and student union bodies to protesting normalization since Oslo, Moroccan solidarity is deeply rooted in a history of shared regional anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggles. As Palestinian independence remains unfulfilled, Moroccans do not miss an opportunity to uphold what they see as a moral and historical duty.

Thus, not only has normalization isolated the country regionally, but it has also widened the gap between Morocco and its fellow North African nations — especially Algeria, which played a significant role in the ICJ case. Morocco not only missed a golden opportunity to join the ICJ case against Israel, but also allowed its seaports to be used by cargo ships heading to Israel — carrying weapon supplies. 

Normalization ultimately alienated Morocco from many Global South countries and has particularly damaged the global image of its ruling elites. Morocco gambles with its own stability by disregarding this popular rejection and scandalously welcoming members of the Golani Brigades — coming from a brutal massacre they committed in Gaza just two months prior, which involved 15 Palestinian medics, United Nations workers, and ambulance drivers—onto its soil to train for tunnel fighting.

Recent statements by the Moroccan Front for Supporting Palestine and Anti-normalization call for increased mobilization and effort in response to restrictions by Moroccan authorities, even as Gazans face starvation. These violations are seen as an insult to the kingdom’s religious and ethical responsibilities— particularly given that it chairs the Al-Quds Committee.

The ruling class relies on the Moroccan monarchy’s symbolic authority to contain popular anger. This leaves the state’s security forces in direct conflict with a people who feel their state’s foreign policy choices neither represent them nor align with their cultural, religious and human values.

History and future generations will remember these diplomatic choices as a betrayal. Had Morocco joined the ICJ case, it could have corrected some of these wrongs. It could have taken a memorable stand against a Western-led imperial hegemony that perpetuates the subjugation, subordination and neocolonialism of the Global South, which Morocco is part of.

A free and independent Palestine means freedom for the entire Arab world from US hegemony. Arab regimes are coerced into aligning themselves with Israeli interests, including ongoing ethnic cleansing and settler violence, to receive U.S. endorsements and financial support. But refusing to normalize a genocide is a step toward the right side of history.