Benkirane: ‘No Moral Justification’ for Morocco’s Ties with Israel Amid Gaza Genocide

Doha – Abdelilah Benkirane, former Moroccan Head of Government and current Secretary-General of the opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD), has called for a reassessment of Morocco’s normalization agreement with Israel, arguing that it “no longer holds any reasonable, logical, or moral basis” amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Speaking at the PJD’s General Secretariat meeting on Saturday, Benkirane emphasized, “The agreements that bind our country with what is referred to as Israel no longer have any reasonable, logical, or moral justification. There must be a reconsideration of the normalization agreements between Morocco and what is known as Israel.”

“Even if people remain silent, they feel that these bullets have pierced their bodies and killed their brothers,” Benkirane said, addressing Israel’s nearly year-long offensive on Gaza. He offered condolences to “our brothers in Lebanon,” adding that “the resistance there remains steadfast and unyielding.”

The PJD leader stated, “War has its ups and downs, but ultimately, a nation whose people strive for martyrdom will prevail,” underscoring that these are “the ethics of Islam.”

Benkirane stressed that what happened in Jordan, where three “Zionist” soldiers were killed, should be understood as “a general state in Islam.”

He noted that this does not prevent the entire nation from supporting their brothers in Palestine, fighting with them, “martyring” with them, and triumphing with them, except for the control exercised by regimes that have a different approach, whether neighboring, distant, or those that have entered into normalization or not.

He emphasized that the Islamic nation will not accept that a segment of it bears the burden of defending the land of Palestine, which is the land of Islam.

“Whoever hears this and attributes this group that exists in Palestine to foreign conspiracies that the Islamic nation has had nothing to do with for more than a century of usurpation, killing, and displacement, this is what is feared,” Benkirane added.

Benkirane’s party, the PJD, has consistently advocated for severing ties with Israel, referring to it as the “Zionist Nazi entity” in light of what it calls the “brutal aggression” and “killing and ethnic cleansing campaigns” in Gaza that began on October 7, 2023.

Earlier this month, the party renewed its call for Morocco’s government to sever all ties with Israel in response to the ongoing Israeli genocide targeting civilians across Gaza.

In a statement following a meeting of its political leaders, the PJD said, “The General Secretariat reaffirms its previous and steadfast positions condemning the genocide and the brutal crimes committed by the Zionist entity and its occupying army against unarmed civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Palestine.”

Describing Arab countries’ “silence” as a “betrayal,” the political party called on Morocco’s government to cancel all agreements with Israel and to immediately close the country’s liaison office in Rabat.

Reiterating this sentiment last month, the party again called on Morocco to “immediately sever all relations and cancel agreements” with Israel following a school bombing in Gaza that killed over 100 displaced Palestinians.

The former head of government has repeatedly criticized Morocco’s normalization deal with Israel, signed in December 2020 when his party colleague Saad Eddine El Othmani was serving as Head of Government.

In July, Benkirane revealed he had urged El Othmani to resign at the time to “keep his dignity,” and was still waiting for an explanation of the circumstances that led him to sign the agreement.

Benkirane has also slammed Moroccan citizens’ solidarity campaigns for Palestine as inadequate, lacking strength and political impact. “The solidarity of Moroccans with Gaza expressed through protests and sit-ins remains weak and without political impact,” he remarked in June.

Morocco and Israel re-established diplomatic ties in December 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords. The deal sparked domestic controversy, with Islamic, nationalist and leftist groups as well as human rights organizations criticizing it as a departure from Morocco’s long-standing support for Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s ongoing genocide, which began on October 7, 2023, has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, with thousands more presumed dead under rubble.

The assault has displaced nearly 2 million Gazans in the territory’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba. Israel currently faces accusations of war crimes and genocide against Palestinians at the International Court of Justice.