JERUSALEM: The chief of Israel’s armed forces will visit Morocco on Monday in the highest-level public engagement between the countries, which upgraded ties in 2020 under a US diplomatic drive.
While Lt. General Aviv Kochavi’s trip has been showcased by Israel as part of emerging defense cooperation with the North African country, Rabat has also been trying to broker improved conditions for the Palestinians.
“One of the subjects that will be discussed (in Morocco) this week will be knowledge-sharing, training — the ability to train together in joint maneuvers — weapons development, the transfer of know-how and perhaps also of weaponry,” Israeli military spokesman Brig.-General Ran Kochav told Ynet TV.
There was no immediate comment from Rabat.
The Moroccan rapprochement with Israel followed its normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, pacts that Washington, seeking closer cooperation among its allies to offset a rising Iran, dubbed the “Abraham Accords.”
Israel and Morocco established low-level relations in the 1990s but these had been suspended after a Palestinian uprising against Israel erupted in 2000. The upgrade of ties in 2020, which remains short of full normalization, has brought direct flights between the countries and a range of bilateral deals.
“Not everything is about security,” Israeli Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli told Reuters in an interview about relations with Morocco. “There are wide interests that we have together and we share.”
She credited Morocco with mediating a deal to permanently open a border crossing from Jordan to the Israeli-occupied West Bank that is important for Palestinian traffic, and said she was in talks with Rabat about other infrastructure projects.
“Morocco is the player that is able to bring everyone together, to soften everybody’s hardships around whatever issue there is,” Michaeli said. “They just have a way of speaking to everyone in a way that gets them around the table and gets them to cooperate.”
The Israeli military said it hosted a Moroccan commando unit for a multi-nation exercise in July 2021, established direct military ties with Rabat in March 2022 and, last month, hosted Moroccan top brass to agree on a year-long joint work program.
Top Israeli general, in first Morocco visit, to explore defense deals
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Top Israeli general, in first Morocco visit, to explore defense deals
- While Lt. General Aviv Kochavi’s trip has been showcased by Israel, Rabat has been trying to broker improved conditions for the Palestinians
Two Tunisia columnists handed over three years in prison
- Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies have already been in detention for almost two years
- They were due to be released in January 2025 but have remained in custody on charges of money laundering
TUNIS: Two prominent Tunisian columnists were sentenced on Thursday to three and a half years in prison each for money laundering and tax evasion, according to a relative and local media.
The two men, Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, have already been in detention for almost two years for statements considered critical of President Kais Saied’s government, made on radio, television programs and social media.
They were due to be released in January 2025 but have remained in custody on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
“Three and a half years for Mourad and Borhen,” Zeghidi’s sister, Meriem Zeghidi Adda, wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Since Saied’s power grab, which granted him sweeping powers on July 25, 2021, local and international NGOs have denounced a regression of rights and freedoms in Tunisia.
Dozens of opposition figures and civil society activists are being prosecuted under a presidential decree officially aimed at combatting “fake news” but subject to a very broad interpretation denounced by human rights defenders.
Others, including opposition leaders, have been sentenced to heavy prison terms in a mega-trial of “conspiracy against state security.”
In 2025, Tunisia fell 11 places in media watchdog Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, dropping from 118th to 129th out of 180 countries.
