Morocco-Israel Alliance Raises Tensions with Algeria over Western Sahara

In December 2020, US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara, in exchange for the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel. President Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump, did not overturn this decision condemned at the time by Algeria. Last March, Spain also officially supported the Moroccan autonomy plan, which it considers "the most credible, serious and realistic basis" for resolving the over 50-year-old conflict in the Sahara.

Following this turnaround in Spain’s position, the Algerian newspaper El Watan raised concerns about information broadcast by the Israeli television channel i24News that "Tel-Aviv will build, in southern Morocco, two drone manufacturing plants" and will also provide the kingdom with the "Iron Dome" anti-missile system, "an American system produced exclusively for the Israeli army".

The information is not new, but it arouses the interest of the Algerian media and at the same time reveals the concern of the Algerian authorities in the face of the growing cooperation between Morocco and Israel. The newspaper El Watan specifies that this Israelo-Moroccan alliance is not new, recalling that during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, "Rabat authorized American planes to stop over in Kenitra before resuming their flights to Israeli territory, at a time when no European country had accepted".

This Moroccan diplomacy on the Sahara, imbued with "clarity and firmness", added to the strengthening of its growing cooperation with Israel, are increasingly worrying Algeria.