Moroccan Journalists Protest Israeli Media Presence Amid Tensions Over Palestinian Journalist’s Death

In an op-ed, a collective of journalists called "Moroccan journalists against normalization with the Zionist occupation" say they are following with "great concern the dangerous path of normalization pursued by the Moroccan state, since December 2020, through several agreements and decisions that allow the institutions of the Zionist occupation to defile" the kingdom. It is outraged that an Israeli channel (I24 News, editor’s note) is authorized to open two offices in Morocco "at a time when the wound is still raw from the cold-blooded assassination, in front of the eyes of the world", of their colleague journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by the Israeli army.

"On May 31, our colleague, Ghoufran Warasna in Al Khalil, fell on the battlefield for press freedom. Not to mention more than 368 Israeli violations against journalists in 2021, and 100 violations since the beginning of this year, during their coverage of events," write the media professionals. According to them, since the 2000s, there would have been 55 journalists killed while on duty. They condemn the "Israeli violations against journalists and all Palestinians" and express their "absolute solidarity with the victims and their families".

"The normalization of Moroccan media with Israeli institutions is also a clear involvement in the falsification of the truth, the encouragement of the murder of innocents, the theft of land, the demolition of homes and the erasure of the Palestinian narrative and its replacement by a false Zionist narrative that distorts the present and history," the collective believes, adding that this normalization is a crime against Palestinians, Moroccans and humanity. These Moroccan journalists are also demanding the immediate closure of the i24News office.