Outcry in Morocco after Benjamin Netanyahu presented on LCI a map of the kingdom without Western Sahara

” A mistake. » It is in these terms that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified the presentation by Benjamin Netanyahu, during his interview on LCI Thursday May 30, of a map of Morocco without Western Sahara, “a non-autonomous territory”according to the United Nations, but which Rabat considers to be within its sovereignty.

Faced with the outcry raised in the Moroccan press and on social networks, the ministry’s spokesperson for Arab media engaged in an unusual exercise of contrition. On the social network X, Hassan Kaabia spoke directly to King Mohammed VI: “We apologize for this technical error. »

During his interview, Mr. Netanyahu cited Morocco as one “from the many countries of the Arab world” with which Israel “made peace”, in reference to the Abraham Accords and the official resumption, in December 2020, of relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv. But to support his demonstration, the Israeli Prime Minister brandished a map, on which the Shereef kingdom appeared in green and Western Sahara in white.

The criticisms from the Moroccan side were not long in coming. The information site Media24 described the gesture as“indecent act”. “Should we see this card as a provocation? »asked the magazine for its part As iswhile the daily newspaper of the Istiqlal party, Opiniondenounced “an attack against Morocco following its condemnation of attacks against Palestine”.

A map of Morocco “without its Sahara”

Rabat, which still refuses to ratify the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, has not reacted publicly to the request of its Attorney General, who requested, on May 20, the issuance of arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister. But Moroccan diplomacy nevertheless welcomed the decision of the International Court of Justice, which ordered Israel, on January 26, to take “all measures in its power to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to commit genocide”.

In July 2023, in a letter addressed to King Mohammed VI, the Israeli Prime Minister recognized Morocco’s sovereignty in Western Sahara. But a first hiccup occurred in October, after a photograph of his office showed a map of Morocco “without its Sahara”according to Moroccan newspapers.

Mr. Netanyahu’s office then assured that it was a card ” Ancient ” and that it was being replaced. Israeli diplomacy had already been forced to explain itself publicly, which makes its embarrassment, since Thursday evening, after this second hiccup, more obvious.

“Mr Netanyahu immediately realized that the map was fake and did not match the official maps used by the Israeli government”supports Asher Fredman, director for Israel of the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace, the organization responsible for assessing the evolution of the normalization treaties between the Jewish state and the Arab countries.

“Unraveling” of standardization

As unintentional as it may be, Benjamin Netanyahu’s false note comes as observers of the bilateral relationship point out “the crumbling” of normalization between Morocco and Israel. Weak signals have been multiplying since the Hamas attack on October 7 and the siege of Gaza by the Israeli army.

Parliamentary diplomacy is at a standstill, government meetings have ceased and direct flights between the two countries remain suspended. As for the prospect of an Israeli consulate in Dakhla, one of the main cities of Western Sahara, which Mr. Netanyahu had indicated, in the summer of 2023, to examine “positively” the opening, it has never seemed so distant.

Economic exchanges nevertheless continue, without publicity this time, as does military cooperation, which constitutes the heart of the rapprochement between Rabat and Tel Aviv. On this point, the two capitals converge in their analysis of the situation in Western Sahara. “The sovereignty of Morocco [sur ce territoire] concerns the security of both Israel and Morocco. We must push back the destabilizing activities of the Polisario Front, which is armed and financed by Iran”insists David Aaronson, deputy director of the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace.

Rabat, which considers that the Sahrawi separatists are supported by Tehran and that they participate in the actions of terrorist groups in the Sahel, recently pointed out their links with Russian mercenaries based in West Africa. The Moroccan press reported, a week ago, the recruitment of some 500 young people, from the Sahrawi camps near Tindouf, within the paramilitary system set up by Moscow in Mali.