Morocco re-affirms no plans for ties normalization with Israel

Speaker of the Morocco parliament has reiterated the kingdom’s position on Israel, stressing that the Arab country has no plans to thaw ties with the Jewish state amid reports of Tel Aviv’s increasing desire to scale up relations with Rabat.

Habib El Malki, speaking to Israeli Maariv paper in Paris on the sidelines of the Moroccan-French parliamentary forum, stressed that the kingdom has no intention to improve ties with Israel, Morocco World News website reports.

Abdessamad Kayouh, the first vice president of Morocco’s upper house at the event told the Israeli media that Morocco’s position on Israel remains the same.

Reports of Israel’s intent to scale up relations with the kingdom have become rife in the Jewish state where the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be pushing for normalization to score some political points.

Israel and Morocco have no diplomatic relations.

Israeli reports early this month indicated that Netanyahu who met Pompeo in Portugal on the eve of his Dec. 5 trip to Morocco wanted to join the US official.

King Mohammed VI has, according to Israeli media, rejected Pompeo’s request to allow Netanyahu to visit Morocco.

Though Morocco is not ready to change its position in Israel, El Malki and Kayouh indicated that Israelis are welcome to visit the North Africa country.

Thousands of Moroccan Jews from all over the world regularly visit the Kingdom on pilgrimage to the tombs of their ancestors and their holy shrines.

The majority of Moroccan Jews emigrated from the country in the last century, but there are still an estimated 2,000 Moroccan Jews living in the kingdom.