Institutional Fragility, Civil Resilience, and the Future of Israeli-Moroccan Normalization
When the Abraham Accords brought Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco together through the December 2020 Joint Declaration alongside the United States (“Joint Declaration”), official rhetoric hailed the normalization as a self-sustaining regional breakthrough. Yet treaties signed in Washington or celebrated in hotel ballrooms by political dignitaries establish only a diplomatic scaffold. They do not build lasting peace. As an active volunteer and youth organizer within TABI (The Abraham Accords Bridging Initiative), I entered this movement because of an urgent structural reality: signing an accord is only day one. If ordinary citizens, students, entrepreneurs, and community leaders don’t see real benefits in their everyday lives, top-down treaties will remain fragile and acutely vulnerable to regional shocks. I believe fundamentally in individual diplomacy. A single honest, unvarnished conversation between a Moroccan student and an Israeli student can dissolve decades of inherited alienation far more effectively than a dozen sterile diplomatic communiqués. My generation bears a direct responsibility: we cannot inherit historic rivalries without rigorously questioning them, nor can we sit as passive bystanders while regional crises dictate our collective horizon. For our region to achieve genuine stability, the youth of both countries must take institutional ownership of the bridges governments cannot build alone.
“The ties between our peoples are deep, and the relations between our countries are stronger than ever. Today we are building closer relations between peoples… Nations and people are measured by their ability to really see the other.”
— Yair Lapid, Address at the Re-Opening of Ties in Rabat (August 2021) (Lapid, 2021)
The bilateral connection between Israel and Morocco is distinct from every other relationship across the Middle East and North Africa. It is not a temporary transaction of security interests, but an organic continuum stretching back more than two thousand years. Centuries before modern borders emerged, indigenous Jewish communities lived alongside Berber and Arab neighbors in the Atlas Mountains, coastal trading nodes, and ancient imperial cities like Fez, Marrakech, and Meknes. Following the 1492 Alhambra expulsion, hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews found refuge under Moroccan sultans, weaving Andalusian music, classical jurisprudence, and commerce into Moroccan national culture.
Throughout modern crises, Moroccan monarchs protected their Jewish subjects. When the Vichy regime pressured. Morocco during World War II to surrender its Jews, Sultan Mohammed V famously refused, declaring that there were no Muslim or Jewish citizens in his kingdom, only Moroccan subjects. Israeli President Isaac Herzog memorialized this profound gratitude in a formal letter to King Mohammed VI, noting King Mohammed V’s legacy as a protector during
humanity’s darkest hour (Herzog, 2022). Today, nearly one million Israelis trace their roots directly to Morocco. Morocco’s 2011 Constitution formally recognizes the Hebraic component (le confluent hébraïque) as an organic tributary of its national identity (Kingdom of Morocco, 2011). As Royal Counselor André Azoulay noted, Jewish culture is inseparable from Morocco’s three-thousand-year story (Azoulay, 2018). Our bond is familial, not simply transactional foreign policy. To ensure our work at TABI succeeds today, we must honestly confront why cooperation fell apart in the past. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Israel and Morocco engaged in deep covert collaboration. King Hassan II was a visionary statesman who acknowledged that Israel was an unalterable regional reality and should be integrated into the Arab League, foreseeing that Sephardic Jews, who understood Arab culture, would be the greatest ambassadors for peace. Following the 1994 Oslo Accords, bilateral liaison offices opened, direct flights began, and commerce expanded. Yet in October 2000, with the outbreak of the Second Intifada, popular protests broke out across Moroccan cities (Middle East Institute, n.d.). King Mohammed VI had to make the difficult decision to close the liaison offices and freeze official ties. That first attempt collapsed because it was engineered entirely from the top down. It existed only in intelligence channels and ministerial boardrooms. Everyday citizens had no direct relationships, no joint civil projects, and no student friendships strong enough to withstand geopolitical anger. When leaders walked away, the relationship disappeared.
“Our bilateral relationship is not like any other. It is rooted in centuries of shared history and the deep connection of Moroccan Jews living in Israel. But negotiations and trust-building are the only way to reach true regional peace.”
— Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco (Bourita, 2021)
We cannot examine the Abraham Accords without confronting the painful reality of the post-October 7 war in Gaza. After hostilities began, public bilateral momentum suffered an acute setback. Direct commercial flights were suspended, diplomatic staff evacuated the Israeli liaison office in Rabat over security concerns, and high-level bilateral summits were postponed or moved abroad. In Rabat, Casablanca, and Tangier, hundreds of thousands marched in passionate solidarity with Palestinian civilians. In Morocco, the Palestinian cause is closely intertwined with popular religious identity and the King’s constitutional responsibility as Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee. Domestic anti-normalization groups capitalized on public grief to demand the termination of the 2020 accords (Institute for National Security Studies, n.d.; Reuters, 2023). This reverse confirms my personal guiding thesis: whenever ties are treated as a top-down political project dominated by defense deals and high-level visits, a single regional war pushes cooperation back into hiding. Without resilient, cross-border civil connections, public anger leaves leaders with immense domestic pressure to freeze ties. Individual diplomacy must become our structural insurance policy.
Against these geopolitical-related headwinds, recent domestic political realignments inside Morocco have created an unprecedented window for civic diplomacy. King Mohammed VI’s appointment of Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri—former Mayor of Marrakech and leader of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM)—as Morocco’s first female Prime Minister denotes a significant institutional shift (Ben Ari, 2026). El Mansouri grew up close to the Jewish community, hosted delegations at her home, and maintained warm, family ties with local leaders (Ben Ari, 2026). El Mansouri’s elevation reinforces the royal consensus on religious pluralism and provides a strong counterbalance against Islamist factions that have historically weaponized anti-normalization rhetoric. Because her political platform focuses on social modernization, local governance, and youth employment rather than purely military agreements, her government is an essential natural partner for civil society initiatives like TABI. An executive leader with deep organic communal roots in Marrakech proves that Judeo-Moroccan coexistence remains an authentic domestic value, not a diplomatic talking point. The clearest indication that individual diplomacy works is unfolding across university campuses. Rather than waiting on political directives, academic researchers took proactive initiative. Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Ben Guerir has pioneered direct institutional alliances with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Technion. These collaborations address urgent survival challenges in agriculture, sustainability, health, and high technology; the claim that BGU and UM6P jointly work on precision drip irrigation and wastewater recycling should be supported with a project-level source before submission (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2022).
Meanwhile, Israeli and Moroccan researchers have established cooperation in renewable energy and related sustainability research (Bar-Ilan University, n.d.). The claims about UIR’s specific research projects and UM6P constructing a campus synagogue adjacent to a mosque need direct, independently verifiable sources before submission. When Moroccan and Israeli students solve water scarcity side by side, they stop being political abstractions and become functional partners. The documented university agreements provide examples of formal academic cooperation, although they do not by themselves establish the extent of joint work on each specific technology (Technion UK, 2022; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2021).
Proposed Vision for TABI: A Practical Action Framework
To prevent the Abraham Accords from repeating the failure of 2000, TABI cannot remain a passive dialogue forum. As youth organizers, we are advancing three concrete operational pillars:
1. Bilateral Tech & Climate Fellowships
Establish annual youth fellowship cohorts and tech hackathons pairing Moroccan and Israeli engineers to develop deployable solutions in drip irrigation, solar storage, and arid-land AI.
2. Cultural & Linguistic Heritage Tracks
Mobilize the one million Israelis of Moroccan descent through youth music ensembles, Andalusian cultural festivals, and peer-to-peer language exchanges connecting Moroccan Darija and Hebrew.
3. Crisis-Resilient Civil Dialogue
Institutionalize permanent, student-led discussion channels that remain active during regional escalations. When formal diplomacy freezes, TABI must keep honest, civil discourse open.
Conclusion: The Future Belongs to Those Who Build It
Israel and Morocco’s history shows that top-down accords and defense pacts are insufficient to preserve peace. When cooperation depends entirely on politicians, it breaks down the moment regional storms hit. The Abraham Accords provided a second chance, and Prime Minister El Mansouri’s domestic leadership reinforces the royal path of tolerance (Ben Ari, 2026). But peace is not an abstract concept; it is a conscious choice individuals make every day. By anchoring our movement in shared Sephardic heritage, academic alliances, and unapologetic person-to-person engagement, we can build an enduring relationship that no crisis can break.
References
Azoulay, A. (2018). Moroccan pluralism and the Hebraic legacy [Address to the Foundation for Moroccan Culture and Pluralism]. The exact title, event details, and a retrievable source must be verified before submission.
Bar-Ilan University. (n.d.). Israel-Morocco research cooperation agreement signed at Bar-Ilan. https://www.biu.ac.il/en/article/11735
Ben Ari, L. (2026, September 29). Morocco’s first female PM has close ties to Jewish community: “She will follow the king’s path.” Ynet News. Add the article URL and verify the article and the claim before submission.
Bourita, N. (2021). Address at the signing of the bilateral cooperation agreements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates. Verify the exact title, date, quotation, and add an official URL.
Herzog, I. (2022, December). Official letter of commemoration to His Majesty King Mohammed VI on the historical legacy of King Mohammed V. Office of the President of the State of Israel. Add a stable official URL or archival reference.
Institute for National Security Studies. (n.d.). The Gaza war and Israel-Morocco relations: The common interests need bolstering. https://www.inss.org.il/publication/morocco-war/
Kingdom of Morocco. (2011). Constitution of the Kingdom of Morocco. Constitute Project. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Morocco_2011
Lapid, Y. (2021, August). Address at the official re-opening of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel. Verify the exact quotation against an official transcript and add a stable URL.
Middle East Institute. (n.d.). Morocco and Israel: Economic opportunities, military incentives, and moral hazards. https://mei.edu/publication/morocco-and-israel-economic-opportunities-military-incentives-and-moral-hazards/
Netanyahu, B. (2020, December). Official remarks on the signing of the tripartite joint declaration. Prime Minister’s Office. Add a stable official URL.
Reuters. (2023, December 10). Moroccans, angry at attacks on Gaza, demand halt to ties with Israel. ThePrint. https://theprint.in/world/moroccans-angry-at-attacks-on-gaza-demand-halt-to-ties-with-israel/1880356/
Technion UK. (2022, May 23). Technion signs historic deal with Moroccan university. https://technionuk.org/news-post/technion-signs-historic-deal-with-moroccan-university/
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (2021, August 18). A new academic era: Hebrew University and Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University sign historic agreement. https://en.huji.ac.il/news/new-academic-era-hebrew-university-jerusalem-and-morocco%E2%80%99s-mohammed-vi-polytechnic
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (2022, March 31). Senior Moroccan academic delegation visits Hebrew University. https://en.huji.ac.il/news/senior-moroccan-academic-delegation-visits-hebrew-university
U.S. Department of State. (2020, December 22). Joint declaration between the United States, Morocco and Israel. https://2021-2025.state.gov/20-1222
