Analysis
Morocco and Israel forge economic quid pro quo on the backs of Palestine and Western Sahara
Israel’s second consecutive appearance in the “African Lion 2025” international military exercise has unleashed a torrent of criticism on social media against the government, now widely described as “complicit” in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
In Morocco, the mobilization against normalizing relations with Israel has never run out of steam in the more than two years of war. While the royal palace maintains its “complicit silence,” the Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine and Against Normalization – a coalition of about twenty left-wing and Islamist parties, unions and associations – has held at least 110 rallies in 66 cities across the kingdom in support of the Palestinians.
At the end of April, tens of thousands marched in Rabat, as well as in the port cities of Casablanca and Tangier, chosen by the organizers to denounce the announced technical stopover of an Israeli navy vessel (never officially confirmed by Rabat) and to “block merchant ships carrying military cargo bound for Israel,” following the renewed bilateral maritime-transport accord signed during the February visit of Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev to Marrakech.
Israel’s second consecutive appearance in the “African Lion 2025” international military exercise, with footage showing Israeli and Moroccan troops side by side in a joint operation, has likewise unleashed a torrent of criticism on social media against the government, now widely described as “complicit” in the cruelty being inflicted on the people of Gaza.
Morocco is one of four countries that normalized ties with Israel in 2020 under Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords. In exchange, Rabat secured what it had long sought: explicit U.S. backing for its claim to Western Sahara.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is classified by the United Nations as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and the UN has always held that the only solution to the conflict is a “referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people.” Nevertheless, despite the many UN resolutions to this effect, in recent years support across Europe for a “Moroccan” solution has grown markedly – e.g. from Berlin, Madrid, Paris – in return for licenses to tap the territory’s wind and solar potential, hydrocarbons and, above all, phosphates.
The economic and military cooperation between Rabat and Tel Aviv is far more intricate and extensive. Since the collapse of the ceasefire in 2020, according to the Polisario Front, the Moroccans have been relying on Israeli armament and technology, using the advice of their military experts and information from Israeli surveillance satellites to strike the positions of the Sahrawi Liberation Army.
All Israeli drone models – currently used in the Occupied Territories and Gaza – are operating over Sahrawi territories, causing dozens of casualties among nomads, with the aim of forcing them to abandon their camps and push them towards Tindouf, Algeria. Mauritanian and Algerian civilians are also being targeted, with at least 86 casualties since the resumption of hostilities.
As a quid pro quo, in March the Moroccan government renewed a gas exploration permit for Israel’s NewMed Energy for the “Boujdour Atlantique” tract off the coast of Western Sahara. This agreement is in addition to the one granted to another Israeli company, Ratio Petroleum, which has secured the “Dakhla Atlantique” offshore tract.
A number of international actors have already mobilized against Israeli investments in the occupied territories of Western Sahara – in addition to those of other countries, such as Italy with Enel, as denounced in the annual report of Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) – denouncing the use of the occupied territories as “a bargaining chip” by Rabat, in violation of international law and the various rulings of the European Court of Justice.
Despite the arrests of dozens of activists opposed to the monarch's will and thus liable to prosecution, the protests no longer come only from the working classes, intellectuals, political parties, or trade unions. They also come from celebrities, such as Moroccan national soccer star Hakim Ziyech, who wrote on Instagram: “Shame on my government for supporting genocide in Gaza.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/il-marocco-complice-di-israele-in-cambio-dei-droni-con-cui-attacca-i-saharawi on 2025-05-28