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Rabat – Morocco has long fought for the rights of Jewish people, the country’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi said last week at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.
Ouahbi’s statement came in response to provocative statements leveled once again by Algerian officials, who at the meeting unsurprisingly accused Morocco of violating human rights.
While Morocco has voiced its opposition to Israel’s aggression in Palestine, the country has long stood for Jewish rights. Sultan Mohammed V fought against colonial forces to protect the Jewish people, the minister said in response to Algerian officials.
“No one pays attention to the fact that the Moroccan judicial system includes Hebrew magistrates who handle Jewish-related affairs,” he said, dismissing Algeria’s claims of human rights violations in Morocco.
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This comment by Algerian officials on Morocco’s alleged violation of human rights is the latest in a series of attacks and accusations that Algerian representatives usually launch against Morocco on the international stage.
Moroccan Jews are even represented in the inner circle of King Mohammed VI, the minister added, noting that ’one of the Moroccan monarch’s most prominent advisors is of Jewish descent. He was referring to Andre Azoulay, a senior adviser to King Mohammed VI of Morocco who previously also advised Late King Hassan II.
“Moroccans have studied and lived in Morocco alongside Jews, making the Kingdom a model in this regard and ready to provide lessons on combating racial discrimination long before the convention was established,” he added.
Morocco has recently embarked on several initiatives to protest Jewish culture and support its Jewish minorities.
Last year, the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco expressed gratitude for King Mohammed VI’s instructions for the establishment of a new organization for the Moroccan Jewish community. The goal of the new organization is to help preserve the values of Moroccan Judaism and promote its cultural heritage.
Unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause
Despite Morocco’s long shared history with the Jewish people, the country has not shied away from denouncing Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people.
While addressing the Arab and Islamic Summit earlier this month, King Mohammed VI said that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has been “made even more complex by Israel’s blatant and continuing aggression against helpless civilians.”
“I have always keenly sought, in my capacity as Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to draw attention to the seriousness of these Israeli practices and provocations, and to the dire consequences they have for security and stability in the entire region,” he added.
In addition to publicly defending the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and advocating for the end of Israel’s occupation of historic Palestine, Morocco has been active in providing humanitarian aid to support the Palestinians.
In spite of re-establishing diplomatic ties with Israel through the US-brokered Abraham Accords in late 2020, Morocco has repeatedly stressed that ties with Israel do not compromise its stance on Palestinian rights.
Ties with Israel “will never be neither today nor in the future at the expense of the Palestinian people’s struggle,” King Mohammed VI said in a letter addressed to Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas in December 2020.
The same sentiments have been consistently echoed by Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who also recently expressed the country’s condemnation of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
On October 11, Bourita said that tampering with the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people undermines the prospects for peace in the region.
Earlier today, Bayt Mal Al Quds, a Moroccan charity organization focused on the socio-economic development of the city of Al Quds, announced that two planes transporting food and medical supplies have finally reached the Gaza Strip following the agreement of a four-day truce between Hamas and Israel.
Israel has launched by far its deadliest attack on the Gaza Strip since October 7. The relentless bombardment of civilian infrastructure has massacred over 13,300 civilians, the majority of whom are women and children.
Earlier this week, Qatar announced that it had brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to allow for humanitarian aid to flow into the strip, raising hopes for a permanent ceasefire.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the four-day ceasefire does not mark the end of Israel’s war on Gaza, saying that Israeli occupation troops are already preparing to launch a second round of murderous attacks once the ceasefire ends.
