Israel's liaison office in Morocco quietly resumes operations
Israel's liaison office in Morocco's Rabat has resumed operations after a 10-month hiatus in an effort to revitalise relations between the two countries.
A source at the Israeli liaison office confirmed to the Moroccan news website Hespress that the office has reopened after operations were suspended due to the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza.
Israel has reportedly prohibited its diplomatic officials from having contact with the Moroccan media, fearing social unrest and widespread opposition to the office’s reopening.
The move comes after last month's appointment of Hassan Kaabia, Israel's deputy foreign ministry spokesman for Arab media, as deputy head of the liaison office in Rabat.
The office is led by David Govrin, who in 2022 was recalled for several months following allegations of sexual misconduct and corruption.
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Following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October and the start of Israel's war on Gaza, the Israeli delegation left Morocco due to safety concerns. The office officially closed in April this year.
According to Hespress, the Israeli liaison office has recently regained some visibility on social networks, posting messages congratulating Morocco on various national events, such as Throne Day and its Olympic Games successes in Paris.
Kaabia's appointment sparked protests on Thursday in front of the parliament building in Rabat, led by the Moroccan Front for Supporting Palestine and Opposing Normalisation, local media reported.
Protestors demanded Morocco sever its relations with Israel and called for the expulsion of Israeli representatives from the kingdom.
Abdelilah Benabdeslam, leader of the protest group, told Hespress that it was "shameful" for Morocco to maintain relations with a "criminal state" and urged "the immediate expulsion of Hassan Kaabia and his team".
Benabdeslam also said demonstrations would continue throughout Morocco.
Popular opposition to normalisation
Israel and Morocco formally established diplomatic ties in December 2020 by signing a Morocco-US-Israel tripartite agreement.
The US-brokered deal included recognising Rabat's claim of sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony mostly controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement supported by Algeria.
While Morocco and Israel have a 60-year history of cooperation in military and intelligence matters, their ties deepened significantly after this agreement.
Following the accord, Morocco secured deals to purchase Israel’s highly coveted Barak 8 missile defence system, Elbit Hermes drones and its spy satellite system to use in its ongoing war with the Polisario Front in Western Sahara.
In 2023, trade between Morocco and Israel doubled, reaching $116.7m compared to $56.2m in 2022. This increase marked the fastest growth among the Arab countries that also established ties with Israel in 2020: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.
In July, Moroccan media reported that the kingdom was purchasing two Ofek-13 spy satellites from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in a deal worth $1bn.
IAI is known for manufacturing some of the most advanced drones and missile defence systems used by the Israeli army in Gaza.
While Israel's ongoing war does not seem to have significantly impacted the core aspects of Israeli-Moroccan relations, including bilateral trade and security partnerships, it has intensified widespread popular opposition to these ties and highlighted the divergence between government and public views of Israel.
When media outlets reported that the INS Komemiyut, a landing craft recently acquired by Israel from the United States, stopped in the northern Moroccan port city of Tangier in early June on its way to Haifa for delivery to the Israeli Navy, the event provoked an outcry in the country.
The Israeli warship, which was reportedly carrying US military equipment and weapons, was authorised to stop in Tangiers to refuel and resupply.
Despite Moroccan officials regularly issuing statements condemning Israel’s violence in Gaza and the kingdom providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave, public opinion remains firmly opposed to the government’s policy towards Israel.
An Arab Barometer poll published in June showed that popular support for normalisation between Israel and Arab states, including Morocco, dropped from 31 percent in 2022 to only 13 percent.
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