This message was posted on Reddit, and provides some fascinating insight into the attitude of the average Moroccan to Israel and the recent normalization deal.
I’m a Moroccan, I saw someone who asked in the sub about how Moroccans feels about the normalization of the Moroccan-Israel relationship and I decided to give my opinion and an idea of how the people feel about it.
Morocco is not the typical Arab/Islamic country. We have something here that we jokingly refer to as “Botswanian Islam”. The average Moroccan drinks, has sex out of marriage, prays very rarely and pretty much lives the life of a westerner while being a Muslim.
However most middle/poor class people lean towards Islamic preaching, this is why they elected the JDP (Islamic party) for government twice. but this Islamic government hid under the coat of religion and passed the worst laws aiming at monetarily draining the common people in order to advance the nation, while protecting/ignoring the corrupt. This made the people seriously reconsider their choices and hate the party.
As it is the case with every country, different communities have different opinions and want different things. However there is one cause that 99.9% of Moroccans agree on despite all their differences, and that is the Moroccan Sahara, (You’d be hated if you called it Western Sahara here LOL).
We’re bordered by Algeria on the east, and Mauritania on the south. Now Algeria to Morocco is pure fucking evil. The Algerian regime wants to see Morocco burn at any expense. A hatred so deep and profound that Algeria would gladly spend all of its money to make sure Morocco doesn’t get ahead, Algeria backs up the Polisario front, hell, Algeria IS the Polisario front. They have their headquarters in Tindouf which is Algerian, every action the Polisario does is done by Algerian blessing or Algerian orders. When tensions rose between Morocco and Polisario lately the Algerian government changed their constitution to give the army the right to make military moves if an attack is made not only on Algeria, but on a bordering country (Pretty much they amended the constitution to say if Morocco fights Polisario we fight Morocco). Algeria is stopping the formation of the Maghreb Union, and it wants to isolate Morocco from the African continent by having Polisario on the south and blocking their borders on the east. This made Morocco suffer so much that they even applied to be part of the EU.
When the last tensions rose between Morocco and Polisario, Palestine gave a neutral sentiment. This angered the Moroccan people so much, and this was what would pave the road for the Israel-Moroccan normalization. In essence the Moroccan street saw that they were arguing for the Palestinian cause while Palestine doesn’t stand for theirs.
Moroccans look up to the US, and also they have great historical relations with the Jews of Morocco. Jewish culture is part of Moroccan culture, all of these events and facts would lead the Moroccan people to a reality check.
Basically at this point the propaganda of Arabic and Islamic union stopped working, Algeria who is Arabic and Muslim wants to see Morocco drown at any expense. At this point no matter how Al Jazeera screams “Israel is evil”, Moroccans would say, “Try fucking Algeria…”. Especially that Morocco was never affected badly by Israel, on the other hand Iran tried several times to destabilize the country. You get the general idea by now.
Also, to have both the US and Israel backing you up, which are one of the greatest economical and military powers in the world sends a message to Algeria that says, “You can’t touch this”. Not to say that Moroccan military is weak, but a war between the 2 would most likely end in a draw and both countries devastated, it is better for Algeria to be too afraid to even consider war.
I for one, prayed for normalization, I love the USA, I love Israel, and I really really hate Al-Jazeera and how they brain-washed Arabic populations.
