WASHINGTON, D.C. — Morocco and Israel have had cooperative relations for years. Israelis of Moroccan descent have traveled back to see where their families lived, and the small Jewish communities of Rabat and Casablanca were generally respected and left alone. There was trade in the amount of $37 million in 2017, and it is growing. Before the pandemic, nearly 50,000 Israelis visited Morocco annually and more than 2,000 Moroccans visited Israel in 2019. Things were going nicely, albeit quietly—so why make it public now?
Because both countries had something to gain—and not only American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The world is changing in ways that are both positive and negative and, for rulers like Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, hiding from the negative is not a good option. Instability in both North Africa and the second tier of African countries—Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Nigeria—is threatening chaos. In the best of times, those countries represent difficult amalgams of (sometimes violently) competing religions, multiple (and sometimes violent) ethnic groups, corrupt governments and poverty. But these are not the best of times, and flames are being stoked by Iran, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.
King Mohammed VI, as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, has enormous standing among Muslims, particularly in Africa, and the form of Islam he promotes is entirely different from that of Iran’s mullahs, al-Qaeda or ISIS. Al-Karaouine University is the oldest still-functioning university in the Islamic world. Founded in 859 C.E. by a female scholar, it has formulated family law that gives women rights in divorce and property ownership, and citizenship to children of non-Moroccan fathers. Female chaplains, called Morchidat, work in Muslim communities around the world. There is more, but it is enough to know that this road is a better fit for a multi-religious, multi-ethnic Africa than those envisioned by radical Islamists.
But the king needs partners—which accounts for Israel, and perhaps also for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Cairo.
A little history is useful here. Israel faced a wall of rejection in the Middle East and North Africa from before its independence in 1948, but in much of the rest of the post-colonial, developing world, Israel—small, post-colonial, socialist—was a partner.
Consider how Cuba—Communist Cuba under Fidel Castro—was, for a time, a friend of Israel. Israeli agricultural workers were common, and when Israeli President Yitzhak Ben Zvi died in 1963, Castro declared three days of official mourning. Algerian dictator Ahmed Ben Bella subsequently canceled his trip to Havana; Castro said he didn’t care. Under pressure after 1967’s Six Day War to sever relations, Castro refused. Only in 1974—angling to become chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement and under pressure from oil-rich Arab countries—did Castro cut Israel loose.
Ditto the African countries. After 1973’s Yom Kippur War, 25 African countries severed diplomatic relations with Israel—and canceled ongoing water and agriculture projects under pressure from both the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity. The African states knew it was a bad deal and jumped to re-establish relations following the Oslo Accords. The 20-year hiatus didn’t hurt Israel nearly as much as it did the people of those countries who threw away Israel’s advanced technology and capabilities.
At the opening of the third decade of the 21st century, it is time for a reckoning.
- The so-called “Arab Spring” was a disaster for the people of the region.
- U.S. policy there, and in the wars that followed, was not attuned to the needs of the people there.
- The emergence of the U.S. as an energy exporter has made the traditional Arab oil-exporting countries less powerful.
- The emergence of China as a lender that calls its loans and has acquired billions of dollars of hard assets in Africa further strains shaky African economies.
- Iran’s funding and training of both Sunni and Shiite jihadists strains shaky African and Arab governments even more.
Better, then, to band together for mutual economic, political and security interests. To wit: Sudan, having just been justly removed from the U.S.’s state sponsors of terrorism list, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the acquiescent but not-quite-yet-ready-to-jump Saudi Arabia and the ever-hiding-under-the-covers Jordan. Plus Israel. What a lineup!
Still, though: Why now? In part, at least, because there will soon be a change in the American administration from one that saw Iran for the evil that it is and the hegemon it aspires to be, to an American administration that has announced itself ready to figure out how to engage the mullahs. Kudos to King Mohammed VI for seizing the opportunity.
*
Shoshana Bryen is senior director of the Jewish Policy Center. She may be contacted via shoshana.bryen@sdjewishworld.com. This article appeared initially in Newsweek.
Simplistic facts are still facts. Every New Zealander kiwi killed by terrorists over seas has been killed by Moslem terrorists. George Habash was the Christian Doctor founder of the PFLP which is responsible for the death of Half of the New Zealanders. His outfit was responsible along with some Germans for using Nazi methods in Entebbe in separating Jew and Gentile. Five New Zealanders were on that plane. Do not patronize SDJW readers with revisionist history. The holy land is the home of the Jewish People as the top selling history book says. I refer to the bible. Jews have been around for thousands of years. Christians 2020 years and Moslem about 740 years.
The Al Aqsa Mosque is in fact a converted Church from the Byzantine period.
With all due respect, this opinion contains a number of misleading simplistic facts and fails to inform the readers of the nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Arab Middle East. Firstly, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not about Islam vs Judaism as the author inferred. The author attempts, through simplistic generalizations, to explain to the readers that there are two forms of Islam and that, naturally, the “good form” of Islam (in Morocco) has no problem embracing Israel regardless of any political or geopolitical issues on the ground. It so appears that the good form of Islam doesn’t see the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands as a problem. Perhaps Morocco should consider sending its “good form of Islam” disciples to Israel to support its cause of subjecting Palestinians by the use of military force under its decades long illegal military occupation. Secondly, as a Moroccan myself, the Israeli who visit Morocco (even with no formal diplomatic relations) are mostly Israeli-Jews with Moroccan heritage. They come back to visit their centuries old cemeteries that are virtually all maintained and cared for by Moroccan Muslims today. Despite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we welcome them as Moroccans and also as Moroccan-Jews visiting their former homeland. Contrast that with Israeli, that even Israeli human rights organization calls inhumane, policies that have been evicting native Palestinians from part of Jerusalem (permit revocation) and separating families. Lastly, I don’t think it’s fair for the author to try to mislead the readers about the core issue between Arab states and Israel. It’s not about Jews vs Muslims or bad Muslim vs good Muslim (how would it sound if someone wrote about the good form of Judaism and the bad form of Judaism? It’s disappointing to keep reading this in 2020). The conflict is between Arabs, who happen to be a majority Muslim but also minority Christians, and Israeli who happen to be a majority Jewish. Many leading Palestinian organizations including the PLO was founded by Christian Arab-Palestinians and religion was never the core of the dispute. The conflict is about the native inhabits of a land who were told that they longer have the right to live there anymore. Bringing up agriculture in this conflict in which millions have suffered and continue to suffer under a military occupation enforcing a de-facto apartheid system is insulting to our intelligence. I guess Africans who were brought in as slaves to America and enslaved for so long should be grateful for the benefits that they were able to take advantage of from the more advanced “western white” slave owners. Regards.