Moroccan flag at the Knesset: visit of Enaam Mayara in Israel this week

The Knesset has just announced that the President of the House of Councillors of Morocco, Enaam Mayara, will make a historic first visit to the Israeli Parliament on Thursday, September 7, and will be welcomed with full protocol honors, including a red carpet and a guard of honor, reports The Jerusalem Post. For the first time, the Moroccan flag and anthem will be honored in the courtyard of the Israeli Parliament. The official ceremony followed by the signing by the senior Moroccan official of the Knesset’s golden book will mark the first stage of this historic visit. Afterwards, Mayara and his delegation will join the President of the Knesset for a working session, at the end of which a joint statement will be made to the press.

"This is an unprecedented visit that marks the beginning of a new era in Israeli-Moroccan relations," rejoices Amir Ohana. "What was once an unimaginable dream is now a tangible reality, full of hope and new opportunities for peace in the Middle East." He also congratulated Mayara on being the first Moroccan personality to make such a visit: "There is nothing more obvious than the warm relationship between the peoples expressed in the warm relationship between the parliamentarians who represent them." The President of the House of Councillors, who is also the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, will be accompanied by delegates representing the parliaments of the member countries of this organization.

Mayara’s visit is part of the strengthening of relations between the two countries. In July, Israel recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara. In response to this decision, King Mohammed VI invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit him in Rabat, an invitation he has accepted. This visit will take place before the end of the year. In June, Ohana made the first visit of a Knesset President to the Moroccan Parliament, in Rabat. This summer, a delegation of Israeli lawmakers visited Morocco as part of a broader parliamentary forum.