Israeli Foreign Minister Ashkenazi Welcomes Normalisation of Ties With Morocco

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has welcomed the renewal of relations between his country and another Arab country – Morocco, brokered by US President Donald Trump and his team.

Late Thursday, Trump announced that he had brokered a peace deal between Israel and Morocco, with the deal implying the establishment of full diplomatic ties and air travel between the two nations, as well as Washington’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed region of Western Sahara.

“I welcome the important news from Washington today [Thursday] on the renewal of relations between Israel and Morocco. The State of Israel thanks US President @realDonaldTrump and his team for advancing peace and stability in the Middle East, and for their support of Israel”, Ashkenazi tweeted.

The agreement reflects “the deep and long-standing friendship” between the two countries, Ashkenazi added, calling on other Arab countries to join the Trump-sponsored Abraham Accords.

Morocco is the fourth Arab country this year to normalise relations with the Jewish state after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan. It is the sixth nation overall to establish ties with Tel Aviv. Egypt and Jordan made peace with Israel decades earlier.

Israel and Morocco had established low-level diplomatic ties during the 1990s in the wake of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, also known as Oslo 2, but those ties were suspended after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada (uprising) in 2000.

Morocco has been home to a large number of people from the Jewish community for many years.