A Moroccan court has denied an urgent legal request to prohibit Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev from entering the country.
This sparked protests outside Morocco’s parliament with protesters accusing the government of “betrayal” of the North African kingdom’s historic support for Palestine.
A group of Moroccan lawyers filed a complaint seeking to ban Regev from attending the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech, citing her alleged involvement in war crimes against Palestinians.
Regev, a hardcore nationalist and former military spokesperson, is one of the most divisive personalities in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fundamentalist cabinet.
Her visit, coming only weeks after a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, sparked fury in Morocco, where public opinion remains solidly pro-Palestinian despite the government’s 2020 decision to normalize relations with Israel.
Hours after the court verdict, dozens of protestors gathered outside Rabat’s parliament, waving Palestinian flags and yelling against normalisation.
The demonstration, organised by the Moroccan Front Against Normalisation, denounced Regev’s visit and Rabat’s decision to maintain ties with Israel despite its war crimes in Gaza.
“Palestine is a trust, normalisation is treason!” they chanted.
Others held signs condemning a reported US proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza—a plan tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, devastated much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
Despite the cease-fire deal established in January, the Israeli army continues to shoot on Palestinians in Gaza, while Netanyahu has approved Trump’s plan to transfer Palestinians from Gaza and transform it into a US-controlled beachfront.
Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under the contentious Abraham Accords, which Trump brokered during his first term as president.
In exchange, the United States recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory.
