RABAT: Thousands of Moroccans on Sunday again took to the streets of their capital to call for an end to their country’s ties with Israel, which they denounced for “genocide” in Gaza.
In late 2020, Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords brokered by the United States which saw similar moves by the UAE and Bahrain.
As part of the deal, Rabat received Washington’s recognition of its claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, several large-scale demonstrations in the North African kingdom have called for the abrogation of the normalization deal.
“Normalization is treason,” and “Stop the massacre,” read banners protesters carried in front of Morocco’s parliament in the center of Rabat.
Journalists estimated more than 10,000 people joined the rally, some of them carrying an immense Palestinian flag.
The crowd size matched that of a similar November protest in Morocco’s commercial capital Casablanca.
“We see 24 hours a day bombardments, children killed, nearly 30,000 dead and nothing stops it. The genocide continues,” said Abdelhakim Ziani, 25, a medical student who joined the rally and wants an end to ties between Morocco and Israel.
“We can’t continue selling and buying from these genocidal people,” he said.
The demonstration was organized by leftist parties and religious movements.
Morocco has officially denounced what it said was “flagrant violations of the provisions of international law” by Israel in its war against Hamas, but has not given any indication that normalization with Israel would be undone.
