La vinculación militar entre Israel y Marruecos antes de los Acuerdos de Abraham
The Abraham Accords were a point of stability in world history. Under US supervision, Israel and several Arab countries signed up to put enmity behind them and embark on a path towards cooperation and peace. One of these nations was Morocco, and, since then, they have been linked by various ties and are very good allies, but a report has just revealed that this relationship began long before the signing of the historic peace memoranda.
According to several British reports published by the Israeli daily Haaretz, in 2014 the Hebrew state reportedly sold several defence systems, including drones, planes, tanks, etc., to the Kingdom before the normalisation of their bilateral relations. The newspaper's document notes that the North African country purchased three Heron drones, created and operated by Israeli aerospace industries.
These machines were allegedly offered for sale for fifty million dollars and the Alawi kingdom accepted this payment. Haaretz states that Morocco made this purchase to fight the Polisario Front, which at the time was very active and conflicts between pro-Moroccan or pro-independence movements were much more frequent than they are today. However, they were only commissioned a few years ago and the Maghreb kingdom has used them to modernise its defence system.
This is rather surprising news. It seems that the two countries put their differences behind them much earlier than we know and it may be the precedent for how they get along now. Cooperation is now commonplace between the two territories, and all signs are that their ties will continue to strengthen.
In 2020, Morocco became the third state to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel, following Egypt and Jordan. The so-called 'Deal of the Century' has led to major benefits for both countries that are still being realised two years later. First, Israel recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for establishing ties.
Today, Morocco and Israel are linked by more than a cooperative bond. The two countries are linked by geopolitical and cultural ties. Morocco has a strong Jewish tradition with Jewish buildings, monuments, cemeteries and all kinds of Jewish heritage, as well as the largest Jewish community in an Arab country in the Kingdom itself. Israel, for its part, is home to one of the largest Moroccan communities residing abroad.
The two sides cooperate in many industries, such as education, tourism, investment, renewable energy, etc., but the most active are security and economics. Security ties between the two regions go back several decades, although with the various Intifadas they were put aside, until now. After the Abraham Accords, under the leadership of former US President Donald Trump, Morocco has purchased numerous weapons from its ally to reinforce its military system. Most notably the Iron Dome, an air defence system with integrated missiles and receivers that can counter any attack coming from the air. Israel has also sold it Harop drones, characterised by their kamikaze attack, helicopters, planes, drones, cruise missiles and so on. They have even teamed up to build military bases in specific locations in Moroccan territory, confirming an improvement in their relations and military potential.
Haaretz claims that the two countries are currently developing another area of cooperation. The newspaper states that the Kingdom and the state are pursuing projects in the cyber field and points to Israeli spyware as an example of their mutual work. This system, developed by the Hebrew company NSO, has allegedly been used by Morocco to hack into the phones of journalists and human rights activists of the Polisario Front, both in Morocco itself, as well as in other countries such as Spain. But even so, there is no evidence to accuse the Maghreb nation and the Moroccan authorities have been denying for months that they have been using this system to their advantage.
