Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was in the United States this week, for a farewell visit ahead of the end of his term July 9. As part of his visit program, 21 ambassadors participated in a ceremony at the United Nations’ New York headquarters, honoring Israel’s outgoing president. One of the ambassadors invited was Moroccan envoy to the UN Omar Hilale, who surprised the other participants. Not only did he come to the event, but he also chose to address the gathering, referring publicly to the normalization agreements signed between Israel and Arab countries, including Morocco. Hilale noted he considered this development as historic, hailing Israel’s willingness to reach these agreements and expressing his optimism for the future of the region. He said there was no alternative to peace.
The public address of Hilale marks another step in the construction of bilateral ties between Israel and Morocco. Contrary to the rapidly developing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and with Bahrain, ties with Morocco are taking their time, even regressing at points.
For instance, on May 16, Morocco’s Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani appeared on Al Jazeera, stating that the kingdom “categorically rejects all violations affecting the legal status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Quds Al-Shari,” and noting that “Morocco places the Palestinian issue and that of Al-Quds Al-Sharif at the top of its list of concerns and considers it to be just as important as its national cause.” On May 24, Othmani sent a letter to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, extending his “warmest congratulations” on “the victory achieved by the Palestinian people and the supreme resistance after the cease-fire agreement between the factions of the resistance and the Zionist entity.”
Jerusalem did not react directly to the statements of Othmani. A diplomatic source at the Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that no one in Jerusalem expects strong ties with Rabat to emerge overnight, as is the case with Abu Dhabi. "This will take longer, and in a different path. With the Emirates, we see an avalanche of economic projects and initiatives, as well as interesting ideas for cooperation between civil societies. This will probably not be the case with Morocco. Especially not vis-a-vis the Moroccan civil society, which is very much attached to the Palestinian cause."
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