Morocco court rejects case to bar Israeli minister Miri Regev

A Moroccan court on Tuesday rejected an urgent legal request to bar Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev from entering the country, a ruling that led to protests outside Morocco’s parliament decrying the government’s “betrayal” of the North African kingdom’s historic support for Palestine.  

The lawsuit, filed by a group of Moroccan lawyers, sought to prevent Regev’s participation in the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech, citing her alleged involvement in war crimes against Palestinians.

“The court has refused to take responsibility”, Khaled Soufiani, a lawyer and vocal anti-normalisation activist with Israel, told The New Arab. 

Regev, a hardline nationalist and former military spokesperson, is among the most controversial figures in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fundamentalist government.

Her visit, just weeks after a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, stoked outrage in Morocco, where public sentiment remains overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian despite the government’s 2020 decision to normalise relations with Israel.  

Hours after the court ruling, dozens of protesters gathered outside parliament in Rabat, waving Palestinian flags and chanting 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.

Mohamed El-Ghafri, the front’s national coordinator, said the protests would continue in Marrakech on Wednesday as Regev attends the conference.

“Her presence here, in the middle of a genocide against Palestinians, is a disgrace,” he told TNA.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, devastated much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached in January, the Israeli army continues to open fire on Palestinians in Gaza, while Netanyahu has green lit Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza and turn it into a waterfront area under US control.  

Morocco’s normalisation with Israel

Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020 through the controversial Abraham Accords, brokered by Trump during his first term as president.

In exchange, the US recognised Morocco‘s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territories.  

Since then, the two countries have signed dozens of agreements in education, military, and trade.

Though opposition to normalisation existed, protests remained relatively contained until Israel’s war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023.

In the months that followed, mass demonstrations swept Moroccan cities, pressuring the government to distance itself from Tel Aviv.

Amid the war in Gaza, Rabat has largely tolerated anti-normalisation protests, scaled back official visits from Israeli officials, and avoided commenting on its ties with Tel Aviv.

The slowdown in normalisation efforts led local pro-Palestine groups to hope that Morocco might eventually cut ties for good.  

Though Rabat has condemned civilian casualties, it has not suspended diplomatic relations, arguing that maintaining ties with Tel Aviv would never come at the expense of the Palestinian cause.  

However, BDS Morocco says Rabat “rushed to publicise normalisation again” the moment the ceasefire was announced, finalising a major arms deal with Israel’s Elbit Systems, resuming construction of the Israeli embassy in Rabat, and now hosting an Israeli official for the first time since the war on Gaza.  

“We will continue this fight. Israel is a terrorist entity, and its officials should not be welcomed here,” said Moroccan lawyer Soufiani after the court’s decision.