Macron’s Earthquake Message to Morocco Sparks Backlash on Social Media

The video message from the French president published on X on Tuesday in which he directly addressed the Moroccans and promised France’s support to Morocco hit by a powerful earthquake killing more than 2,900 people, is not well received. "Mr. Macron, you don’t address the Moroccan people like that. Only the King of Morocco can address the Moroccan people in this way. You are showing extreme clumsiness," wrote a Moroccan Internet user on X. Another Internet user denounced Emmanuel Macron’s approach. "The Moroccan people do not want your support or help, or that of your television clowns..." he added.

On Sunday, the French president assured that France is ready to "intervene" to help Morocco "at the second" where the Moroccan authorities request it, after the September 8, 2023 earthquake, but Rabat has not requested its assistance. A controversy is then born. "It is obviously up to His Majesty the King and the Government of Morocco, in full sovereignty, to organize international aid and so we are at the disposal of their sovereign choice," he declared in the video posted Tuesday on the X network (ex-Twitter), thus trying to cut short the controversy. In the absence of a Moroccan response, Paris has announced aid of 5 million euros for NGOs present in the country and contributing to the relief efforts.

"We will be there in the long term on the humanitarian, medical, reconstruction, cultural and heritage aid, in all the areas where the Moroccan people and its authorities consider that we are useful," added Emmanuel Macron, subtly suggesting that Morocco needs Paris’ help to effectively deal with the devastating consequences of Friday’s earthquake. "I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that French President Emmanuel Macron is so badly advised as to address the Moroccan people in this way. He has only exacerbated the situation, because his speech will not go down well in Rabat," wrote political analyst Samir Bennis on X.

Recently, Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun indicated that the "clumsy" attitude of the French president towards King Mohammed VI is the other factor in the growing deterioration of diplomatic relations between Morocco and France. In an interview with i24News, he reported that Emmanuel Macron "clumsily" reprimanded the sovereign during a telephone conversation, after evoking the alleged espionage of Morocco using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. "I give you my word of honor that I did not spy on you. That’s not my style," the writer quoted the sovereign as saying in response to the French president’s complaint.

But "Macron replied to him in a clumsy way and the king did not appreciate it because he had given him his word of honor and Macron did not believe him. Since then, relations [between Morocco and France] have been broken," he added. The king would have hung up on him and declined his next phone calls.