"Through Morocco, Israel enters North Africa"

[CEZAYIRLI]

Hasni Abidi, directeur du Centre de recherche sur le monde arabe et méditerranéen à Genève : “À travers le Maroc, Israël s’introduit en Afrique du Nord” - L’Actualité : Liberté

Avec la signature d’un accord militaire avec Rabat, “Tel-Aviv s’introduit en Afrique du Nord et s’offre une opportunité stratégique sur toute la région, ainsi que dans la région du Sahel”, analyse le politologue Hasni Abidi.

www.liberte-algerie.com

"Through Morocco, Israel enters North Africa"

HASNI ABIDI, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON THE ARAB AND MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN GENEVA

By Karim BENAMAR the 11-27-2021 12:00

With the signing of a military agreement with Rabat, "Tel Aviv is entering North Africa and offers itself a strategic opportunity throughout the region, as well as in the Sahel region," analyzes political scientist Hasni Abidi.

Liberty: How do you read the visit of the Israeli Minister of Defense, the first of its kind, to Morocco?

Hasni Abidi: This is a visit of great importance that has been prepared in advance for several months. It is part of Morocco’s desire not only to further formalize its ties with Israel, but also to give it an institutional look that lasts for a long time. It is clear that the timing is no accident.
The visit of the Minister of Defense comes in a sequence where Morocco is in an “offensive position” in terms of foreign policy.

What are the challenges of security cooperation, which is hoped for intense, between the two countries?

Visiting and signing agreements, which is public and confidential, is already a feat. The agreements have an institutional and evolving scope. We are witnessing the end of an Israeli myth which forbids any sophistication of a defense or militarization of an Arab state. Beyond strategic military equipment including defense systems, Israel offers life insurance in Morocco. The plan for a military base in Morocco constitutes a red line in Israel's foreign policy that even Israel's first Arab partners were unwilling to cross. Thus, through Morocco, Israel is entering North Africa and offering itself a strategic opportunity throughout the region, as well as in the Sahel region.

What will be the consequences of this historic rapprochement between the two parties on the region?

This is more than an alliance. It is a strategic pact that Morocco wishes to make profitable as a legitimation of the normalization of relations with Israel and above all a new construction of Moroccan foreign policy intended to break the balance of forces in the region with a view to a Moroccan leadership. in matters of defense and military superiority involving a risk of excessive militarization. As for Israel, its relationship with Morocco is functional. It settles beyond its natural borders, it is no longer the pariah state, and finally, it deprives the Palestinian cause of a powerful argument: no normalization without Palestinian rights.

How will Algeria evolve in the face of this new situation?

The visit of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, his first overseas, is no coincidence. It comes at a time when diplomatic relations between Algiers and Rabat have been broken off since August 2021. Algiers mentions “hostile actions” by Morocco. With the new visit, Morocco's acquisition of the Israeli Skylock Dome system, designed to detect and neutralize drones, rockets, artillery and mortars, is not likely to reassure the Algerian authorities. On the contrary, Algiers will probably revise its defense strategy and review its alliances to counter the “triumphant” position adopted by Morocco since the recognition of the “Moroccanness of the Sahara” by Donald Trump.

From this point of view, is the Maghreb Union project definitively buried?

The Israeli streak will stifle the economies of the region due to the revival of the arms race and the impoverishment of the populations. Worse, it accelerates the shrinking of already cramped areas of freedom. The economy-based approach to regional integration remains a realistic one capable of bridging the political differences and tensions of the day. In the aftermath of its launch, the UMA project has aroused a half-hearted glimmer of hope as it circumvents the structural difficulties that are delaying the rapprochement between the Maghreb states. The current streak is not the best time to relaunch this project. Alas!


Interview by: Karim Benamar

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

The Moroccan rulers sold their soul to the devil.
The regular Moroccan people are against this horrible outcome.
I see this Morocco-Isra-Hell alliance more as the end of the Moroccan monarchy.

Regime change in Morocco will save that country.

 

[CEZAYIRLI]

I welcome the challenge for Algeria to show the world that even little Morocco has both Western and Zionist protection, there is only one leader in North Africa, and that is Algeria.

Morocco remains a weak regime that can never stand on its own.
Morocco is a "mistress with whom we sleep every night, with whom we are not particularly in love but which we must defend", had affirmed the French ambassador to the United Nations, Gérard Araud.