Moroccan Protesters Condemn Israeli Airstrike on Gaza’s Jabalia Camp

Hundreds of protesters gathered on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, October 31, in Rabat, Tangier and other cities in the kingdom at the call of several NGOs to condemn the Israeli bombing of a residential neighborhood in the Jabalia camp, north of Gaza. According to the Gaza Interior Ministry, the Israeli air force had earlier in the day dropped at least six bombs on the neighborhood, each weighing about 1,000 kilograms. The strikes caused "400 casualties, including dead and wounded," it said.

For now, Morocco has not yet officially reacted to the Jabalia massacre. "Today, we are here to demand an end to the silence on this massacre. It’s a shame. And we will go down in history as accomplices if we do nothing," said Al-Arbi Findi, a member of the Moroccan group against normalization, one of the NGOs that called for the demonstration, to The New Arab. According to his association, the normalization agreements constitute a "flawed peace agreement" due to Morocco and the other signatories’ inability to mediate for the entry of aid and the ceasefire in Gaza after more than a month of war between Hamas and Israel.

For the protesters, it is time for Rabat, which restored its diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in December 2020 under the aegis of the United States in exchange for the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, to cut ties with the Hebrew state as the kingdom had done in 2000 in reaction, in particular, to Israel’s brutality during the second Intifada. "We cannot remain silent forever. The state must know that we have a voice, and that we will use it to defend good causes," explains Omar, a Moroccan who came to demonstrate in Rabat on Tuesday.