Moroccan palace decries party over anti-normalization statement

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Mar 2023 17:44
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The Moroccan royal palace says the country's foreign policy would not be "subject to blackmail."

Moroccan flag (Creative commons)

Morocco's royal palace on Monday asked the largest Islamist party, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), to stop taking aim at the country's normalization ties with the Israeli occupation after the party rebuked the Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita for defending "Israel".

Last week, the PJD stressed that its "general secretariat condemns the recent stand by the foreign minister in which he appears to be defending the zionist entity... at a time the Israeli occupation continues its criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers."

Morocco normalized ties with the Israeli occupation in late 2020 after signing a deal brokered by the Trump administration that included Washington's recognition of Rabat's sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory where the Polisario Front seeks to establish its own state.

Israeli-#Moroccan relations go way back, according to an Israeli newspaper, detailing arms deals and other security cooperations between #Morocco and the occupation. pic.twitter.com/Jr5lQHWfrx
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 19, 2022

The Moroccan royal palace insisted that the country's foreign policy was a prerogative of the King and it would not be "subject to blackmail."

Since normalizing ties, Morocco and the Israeli occupation have signed cooperation agreements, including a security pact.

In November 2021, then-Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz and Morocco's Minister in charge of defense administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, signed a memorandum of understanding on security cooperation between the two sides.

During his visit to Rabat, Gantz said the signed memorandum paves the way for military sales and cooperation between "Israel" and Morocco.