21-05-2025
Israeli flag flies in Morocco during military drill, sparking indignation
As the annual 'African Lion' military drill kicked off in Morocco last week, troops from various nations were filmed marching across a red carpet, flanked by rows of flags.
Near the centre, the blue and white of Israel fluttered - a rare sight on Moroccan soil.
The yearly exercise, jointly organised by Rabat and the US Africa Command, brings together 10,000 troops from more than 40 participating countries.
It is the third time Israel has taken part in the drill. But unlike last year - when Israeli involvement was kept out of the public eye amid its war on Gaza to avoid domestic Moroccan backlash - this year's participation was out in the open.
'For the Moroccan regime to not only collaborate with the [Israeli] military but to rub it in our faces publicly with no shame, honestly I have no words for it,' Yassir Abbadi, of the Moroccan Front for the Support of Palestine and Against Normalisation, told Middle East Eye.
Images of Israeli soldiers in Morocco drew heavy criticism online, including one purporting to show troops from the Golani Brigade waving an Israeli flag and their battalion's insignia during the drill.
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In late March, troops from the Golani Brigade were involved in killing 15 Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza and digging mass graves to cover up the crime.
Reacting to the photo, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, called on Rabat to uphold the rule of law and arrest soldiers from the brigade.
'If confirmed, this would mark a new threshold of depravity - and a violation of the international obligation to investigate and prosecute individuals implicated in atrocity crimes,' she said.
Meanwhile, Israelis were celebrating their presence in the North African country.
One viral video appeared to show two Israeli soldiers - one wearing a Moroccan thobe - stepping out of a military vehicle and dancing in celebration.
Separately, it was reported that two Israeli soldiers involved in the exercise were wounded in Morocco during a car accident.
'Disregard for the people'
'We have to clearly differentiate between the Moroccan population and the authorities, with King Mohamed VI at its head,' said Abdelkader Abderrahmane, an independent expert on North African security and geopolitics.
'The Moroccan population in general has always demonstrated its support for the Palestinian people and their suffering in Gaza,' he told MEE.
He cited frequent protests over the past two years, as well as direct action last month when the Tangier port workers' union refused to unload or service a Danish-flagged vessel headed to Israel.
'The Moroccan population in general has always demonstrated its support for the Palestinian people'
- Abdelkader Abderrahmane, analyst
'The Maersk Nexoe was coming from the US, loaded with spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel,' Abderrahmane said.
An Arab Barometer survey in January found that Moroccan support for normalisation with Israel fell from 31 percent in 2022 to only 13 percent in 2023 and 2024.
For Abbadi, the message is clear.
'The state does what it wants with complete disregard to what the majority of people want,' he said. 'That's how normalisation happened in the first place. It's a dictatorship - that's how authoritarian regimes behave.'
Despite widespread public opposition, cooperation between Morocco and Israel has steadily expanded.
The two countries normalised relations in 2020 under a US-brokered agreement that also saw Washington recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara - a disputed territory that Rabat has controlled since the 1970s.
'Business as usual' despite war
Since normalisation, trade between Morocco and Israel has grown rapidly, reaching $116.7m in 2023, double the previous year's figure.
'It's business as usual between Rabat and Tel Aviv,' said Abderrahmane. 'Numerous accords of cooperation have been signed between the two, in the fields of energy, technology, trade and many others.'
Morocco selects Israel's Elbit Systems as major weapons supplier Read More »
He cited Israeli companies Netafim and Gala Energy investing in Moroccan irrigation and renewable energy projects, as well as an offshore gas drilling permit granted to a Morocco-Israeli consortium near the Canary Islands.
Arms and intelligence cooperation is expanding, too.
In February, Morocco chose Israel's Elbit Systems as one of its main weapons suppliers.
'It feels very unfortunate to say this, but the military ties between the two regimes have expanded because of the Gaza genocide,' said Abbadi, citing weapons deals and ships carrying Israeli weapons docking in Moroccan ports.
Abderrahmane added that Morocco was on the verge of a $1bn deal to purchase a spy satellite from Israel Aerospace Industries.
That would add to previous acquisitions of Israel's NSO Group's Pegasus software, which was used to spy on Moroccan activists, journalists and even foreign politicians, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
'This close military cooperation would eventually bring more instability to the wider North Africa-Sahel region,' said Abderrahmane.
Ignacio Cembrero, a Spanish journalist specialising in Moroccan affairs, said that Morocco's royal palace had taken a risk by going against the public tide.
'Not even a live-streamed genocide... is going to make the Moroccan regime even flinch'
- Yassir Abbadi, activist
'Israel must be a valuable ally in its arms race with neighbouring Algeria. It is also a necessary step toward deepening relations with the United States,' Cembrero told MEE.
'It is counting on Washington to get the international community moving on the Western Sahara issue.'
Algeria, which has fallen out with Morocco over Western Sahara and a host of other issues, is boycotting the African Lion exercise.
Though Algiers hasn't publicly spoken on the matter, analysts have speculated that Israeli involvement in the drill may have been a contributing factor.
Abbadi said none of this surprises him - military contact between Morocco and Israel had predated normalisation by decades.
'We know that King Hassan II helped Israel win the Six-Day War by providing crucial information about the Arab states,' he said, referring to the 1967 war.
'Not even a live-streamed genocide and thousands of body parts in streets of Gaza is going to make the Moroccan regime even flinch - or consider cutting ties, or at least hide them.'
