Morocco Pressures Israel for Sahara Recognition, Ties Embassy Opening to Demand

By appointing Ronan Levy as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel expects him to develop diplomatic cooperation with Morocco, but also to conduct negotiations on the strict Moroccan condition of Tel Aviv’s recognition of the kingdom’s sovereignty over the Sahara, reports the Moroccan newspaper Al-Ayyam 24. Until now, Israel has not recognized the Moroccanness of the Sahara, even though it is an issue dear to King Mohammed VI, who in his speech delivered on the occasion of the Revolution Day in August 2022, called on his "traditional partners or the new ones whose positions on the Sahara issue are ambiguous, to clarify and review their position".

A discreet man whose identity remained secret for years, the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the architects of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and the four Arab countries of the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Morocco and Bahrain, reports the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, which describes him as "Israel’s man in the Arab world". He had "served for 30 years in operational positions within the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence agency."