Morocco Expands Diplomatic Services in Israel Despite Public Pressure

"As part of the consular reform led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, the Liaison Office of the Kingdom of Morocco in Tel Aviv informs all Moroccan citizens residing in Israel and foreigners concerned by the filing of an application for a visa to enter Morocco, will be done through the new system of remote consular appointment requests: rdv.consulat.ma," reads a statement. The services to be provided are: the issuance of the national identity card, the issuance of passports, the authentication of signatures and the issuance of visas.

This announcement comes in a context marked by calls for the severance of relations with Israel. Since the surprise and spectacular operation of Hamas on October 7 and the Israeli retaliation, pro-Palestinian demonstrations are being organized in several Moroccan cities to demand that Morocco break its diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. A demand expressed in a popular petition that has collected more than 10,200 signatures. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s office refused to receive it.

"We had previously submitted a request for an appointment and we were told we could come back to submit the petition. However, when we arrived, we encountered strong security forces and local authorities who prevented us from entering," Abdel-Kader Al-Aalami, a member of the organizing committee of the petition, told The New Arab.

Later in the day, Mustapha Baitas, government spokesman and deputy minister in charge of parliamentary relations, provided clarifications. He stated that the petitioners had followed the wrong procedure. As a result, entry was denied to them to submit the petition. The refusal of the petition does not dampen the ardor of the anti-normalization movement. "What we faced on Wednesday reveals the twinning relationship between normalization and the state of tyranny and anarchy," he said in a statement released on Thursday. And he added: "We will continue our fight to defend the constitution and the law against the state of misery and institutional failure manifested by the government."