Rabat – After Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) announced its intention to request a bill to withdraw Moroccan citizenship from Moroccan Jews living in the occupied Palestinian territories, PAM Secretary General Ilyas El Omari met Paris Thursday January 4 with his counterpart in the Federation of Moroccan Jews in France, Simon Skira, as confirmed by Skira to Morocco World News.
This move is part of a strategy to “reassure Moroccan Jews who have reportedly expressed their anger over PAM’s announcement which is aimed at opposing US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed region.
After the meeting, Skira asserted that El Omari will back down from submitting the bill to the parliament, but did not reveal any further details of their meeting. El Omari had first raised the notion of revoking the citizenship of Moroccans living in Israeli settlements Moroccan Jews had opposed PAM’s suggested bill, calling it “reckless” and urging King Mohammed VI to block the party’s proposal.
PAM’s request was allegedly supported by the members of other political parties who oppose normalizing relations with Israel. Aziza Chagaf, a PAM member, said that the decision to submit the controversial bill discussed during a meeting with former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during his visit to Rabat on December 26, 2017, at the request of the Justice and Development Party (PJD).
Edited by Elisabeth Myers
