Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – Amidst growing allegations of Morocco using Israeli software to spy on various domestic and foreign persons of interests, French Senator Christian Cambon, has said that Morocco is the victim of a libelous press campaign.
Cambon, who is the president of the France-Morocco friendship group and heads the French Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee, told French media that the press campaigns are aimed at “destabilizing” Morocco.
French media claimed that besides Moroccan public figures, the Moroccan government also spied on French activists, journalists, ministers, and President Emmanuel Macron.
Cambon dismissed such allegations. “But when we make accusations, we must assume the evidence… until proven otherwise, these are only stories that regularly linger,” he said, stressing that “We can see that these accusations are fabrications, and therefore we have no proof, and until now we have never had any.”
The senator also denounced “allusions and generalizations…waved by a hand that, as usual and for a long time, gathers the opponents of Morocco.” He suggested, however, that the unrelenting media campaign is unlikely to get the desired results. “Fortunately, Morocco has friends.”
The US’ decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in December 2020 “creates tensions,” and “bothers many people,” said Cambon. According to the French official, Morocco’s neighbors are not under similar scrutiny, thus indicating “a form of jealousy towards Morocco.”
“I find it sad, because in the difficult and complicated world in which we live… we see attempts at destabilization everywhere,” he noted.
In his statement at France’s National Assembly on Tuesday, Prime Minister Jean Castex noted that French authorities have to date not found anything conclusive from their internal investigations into the allegations of Morocco using Pegasus to spy on French journalists, politicians, and even President Macron himself.
“We have ordered investigations into the materiality of these claims,” said Castex. He added, “These investigations have not been successful and it is therefore not possible for me to express myself at this stage before the national representation.”
The NGO Forbidden Stories, a consortium of 17 media partners including Amnesty International, has issued serious accusations towards governments worldwide of deploying the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli NSO Group.
In a series of communiques it has repeatedly issued in response to relentless media coverage of Forbidden Stories’ “unfounded” finger-pointing at Morocco, the Moroccan government has stressed it categorically “rejects all false and unfounded” allegations spread by the group’s media partners.
In a July 20 press release, the government deplored the “persistent false, massive, and malicious media campaign” against the country.
“Strong in its rights and convinced of the merits of its position, the Kingdom has opted for a judicial process, in Morocco and internationally against any party endorsing these fallacious allegations,” the press release stated.
