Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Morocco

Showing posts with label Morocco. Show all posts

Thursday, June 02, 2016

The Arab lobby in Washington

I had missed this important interview in RealClearPolitics with Al-Monitor’s Congressional Correspondent Julian Pecquet about the Arab lobby in Washington. Excerpts:

Can you give us a brief overview of Mideast lobbying in Washington?

[Arab nations are] forced to rely on armies of former officials and assorted influence-peddlers and image-makers to get their way. Often times in the Middle East, those goals include preserving the status quo or trying to put some controversy or other to bed rather than seeking any positive development.

That’s what you’re seeing right now with Saudi Arabia’s massive $9 million a year campaign to kill legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom. The Saudis are also working hard to preempt the inevitable negative media coverage from the pending release of a 2002 preliminary inquiry into the attacks.

The same is true of Egypt. Since late 2013, Cairo has been working with the Glover Park Group to shake off the pariah status that followed President Mohammed Morsi’s overthrow, and lift all remaining restrictions on military and economic aid.

The Lebanese, for their part, want to protect their banking industry from new sanctions on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. And the United Arab Emirates has kept a close watch on the debate over the Export-Import Bank’s reauthorization, which the UAE has relied on extensively to help build its world-beating airline industry.

Other actors want a shot at political power, with interesting regional dynamics. These include the Iraqi Kurds’ bid for more autonomy (which Baghdad has lobbied against) and the Syrian opposition’s efforts to gain support against Bashar al-Assad (with an assist from the Saudi lobby).

Which Mideast country -- or countries -- might surprise the casual American observer for its outsize influence in our nation’s capital?

Morocco has to be one of the most interesting cases. The kingdom spends upwards of $3 million a year on more than a half-dozen lobbying and PR firms -- not to mention a seven-figure donation to the Clinton Foundation -- to project a friendly image. Mind you, we’re talking about a relatively poor country that’s still eligible for Millennium Challenge Corporation grants. All of that lobbying is directed at one main goal: obtaining U.S. approval -- or at least tacit acquiescence -- for its exploitation of the disputed Western Sahara, where Sahrawi activists have long demanded a vote on independence. The campaign has been largely successful, with neither the State Department nor Congress in any great rush to upset the apple cart and undermine a longtime Western ally by ushering in a potentially ungovernable new state on its borders.

Here's his story about the Clinton Foundation taking a million dollars from Morocco from April 2015:

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton is endorsing the illegal exploitation of disputed lands and risks undermining four decades of UN diplomacy by taking money from Morocco, critics say.

Clinton, who's expected to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination April 12, has come under fire for accepting foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation, most recently a $1 million donation from OCP, a fertilizer giant owned by the Moroccan government. Left unsaid in the initial reports: OCP — the Office Chérifien des Phosphates — is a major player in the exploitation of mineral resources from the Western Sahara, a disputed territory known as the “last colony in Africa” that Morocco took over after colonial power Spain abandoned it in the 1970s.

“You’ve heard of blood diamonds, but in many ways you could say that OCP is shipping blood phosphate,” Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., told Al-Monitor. “Western Sahara was taken over by Morocco to exploit its resources and this is one of the principal companies involved in that effort.”

A co-chairman of the Western Sahara Caucus and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Pitts is one of a small handful of lawmakers willing to buck Morocco, a longtime US ally that runs a massive lobbying and PR operation in Washington. On April 10, he sent a letter to the Clinton Foundation, first obtained by Al-Monitor, along with House Foreign Affairs human rights panel Chairman Chris Smith, R-N.J., asking the foundation to refund the money and “discontinue its coordination with OCP.”

A spokesman for the foundation did not return an email request for comment.

Later reports say that OCP gave as much as $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, and Hilary Clinton has been an outspoken advocate for Morocco's position vis a vis the Western Sahara.

Segments of the Arab lobby seems to be quite effective in Washington. Funny how few people talk about it.

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Moroccan BDS activists announced that they managed to intimidate dozens of produce wholesalers in the country to stop selling Israeli dates, especially ahead of Ramadan when the demand for dates is high.

One of the merchants confirmed to the media that the requests by wholesalers to buy Israeli dates have ended "as a result of the success of the pressure campaign."

One activist said, "How can we accept the existence of this product on our plates, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, knowing that what we spend on these dates contributes to the perpetuation of the Israeli occupation and oppression of the people of our beloved Palestine?

This article says that the campaign was kickstarted by a Jewish anti-Zionist who noticed the Israeli goods in markets earlier this year.

This is hardly the first time that the issue has come up. Al Jazeera wrote about the exact same phenomenon of Israeli dates coming to Morocco ahead of Ramadan some nine years ago and I covered the paranoia then.

However, the amount of Israeli goods entering Morocco has been steadily increasing, from watermelons to chocolates to clothing to electronics.

How do these goods enter the Arab nation?

Importers in the autonomous Spanish areas of Ceuta and Melilla are bringing them in from Spain. Thousands of Moroccans flock to the enclaves daily to buy Western-made goods at discount.

One importer started to remove any tags that showed that the goods were from Israel, but consumers demanded to know where they were from. This didn't stop them from wanting to buy them.

One merchant said, "Many people in the beginning rejected (Israeli goods,) but with the passage of time some people began to, and some do not care about the source, even if it is Israeli. When they see quality goods they buy."

Whether the BDSers actually won this battle is hard to know because they are the only ones relaying this news. But they are definitely losing the war, as the amount of Israeli exports to Morocco has been steadily increasing year after year.

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Jewish pilgrimages in Tunisia and Morocco end without incident

Over this past week, there were two major pilgrimages to Jewish shrines in Arab nations.

The most famous one was to Tunisia, where hundreds of Jews went on an annual visit to the ancient synagogue in Djerba.

It is the top story in The Arab Weekly, a beta site of what is apparently a new English-language newspaper:

More than 2,000 pilgrims gathered at Africa’s oldest synagogue on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba despite a warning by the Israeli government that the Jewish festival could be targeted by terrorists.

In an event unique in the Arab world, pilgrims, especially Jews of Tunisian descent from around the world, take part every year in the Lag Ba’omar festival at Djerba’s Ghriba synagogue. Pilgrims pay respect at tombs of famous rabbis, make vows, light candles and engage in celebrations.

Braving searing heat and security concerns, pilgrims danced and chanted amid heavy security measures aimed at warding off potential jihadist assaults.

Approximately 1,500 Jews live in Tunisia, down sharply from an estimated 100,000 before the country won independence from France in 1956.

“The way Tunisia treats its Jewish citizens and all its minorities serves as a strong positive model for the rest of the world,” said Knox Thames, US State Department special adviser for religious minorities. Thames participated in some parts of the pilgrimage ritual.

The Jewish community of Djerba is said to date back around 2,600 years ago. The Ghriba synagogue was built in 587BC.

The synagogue became the site of an annual pilgrimage of Jews from Tunisia and abroad. Known as the Hiloula, which translates as “celebration”, the event takes place on the holiday of Lag Ba’omer in commemoration of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, a legal scholar reputed to have performed miracles.

The event isn't quite unique, because there was another Hiloula festival in Morocco as well for Lag B'Omer. From Morocco World News:

Hundreds of Jewish pilgrims from around the world gathered on Thursday in the city of Ouazzane (north) to celebrate the Hilloula.

On this occasion, a ceremony was organized by the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco in the mausoleum of rabbi Amrane Ben Diwane and was attended by pilgrims from Morocco and abroad.

The ceremony was held in the presence of several Moroccan officials as well as by civilian and military figures.

Aloun Sami, a member of the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco, told MAP that the celebration of this annual religious ceremony showcases the attachment of Moroccan Jews to their homeland, where they enjoy full respect.

There is an element of Tunisia and Morocco bending over backwards to show their support for Jews to the West, but that doesn't mean that their efforts are unappreciated. Indeed, those two countries are anomalous in the Arab world as to how they protect their tiny remaining Jewish communities.

A Moroccan news site had a 10-minute feature on these pilgrimages a couple of years ago, where it gathered over 350,000 views with much debate in the comments between those who support Jews and the (much noisier) blatant antisemites.

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Video of Jews dancing in Morocco's airport goes viral

From Morocco World News:

In a scene that speaks volumes of Morocco’s openness, tolerance, cross-cultural understanding and peace in face of difference, a group of Jews arrive at Casablanca Mohammed VI airport singing and dancing their ritualistic Talmudic dance as an expression of their gratitude for Morocco.

The scene, which can rarely happen across the Middle East and North Africa except in Morocco, features a group of Jews at the airport’s checkpoint dancing and singing in very apparent joy, some wearing Moroccan traditional clothes but many others wearing their full Jewish attire such as the kippah, the black hat and suit, etc.

What was remarkably interesting on the faces of Morocco’s guests is the sense of security and comfort they expressed through dancing and through their smiling faces while being checked. Morocco has admitted its cultural diversity including its Jewish influence in the 2011 constitution.

The full story of who they were and what they went to see in Morocco is at Yeshiva World News.

While it looks like no one at the airport was terribly concerned over these "Talmudic rituals," Arabic media called the behavior "provocative."

I'm not sure how wise it was for them to make a scene at the airport either, especially at the security, making the jobs of the workers a little harder. For the most part I have not yet seen Moroccans being too insulted by this.

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"Anti-Zionists" criticize Jewish film festival in Morocco

Scene from one of the films shown

JTA reports:

Nearly 500 people attended the first Jewish film festival of Casablanca, which was organized in the Moroccan city by a Sephardic Jewish woman from Atlanta.

The three-day event, which ended Wednesday at the offices of Casablanca’s SOC club, featured three films about the “consequences of the emigration of the Jews from the fabric of Moroccan society,” the organizer, Vanessa Paloma, told JTA on Thursday. Each screening drew about 150 viewers, she said.

One of the two fictional features screened was “Aida,” which was also Morocco’s submission to the Academy Awards for best foreign language film, about a Paris-based Jewish music teacher’s battle with cancer.

The other was “Midnight Orchestra,” a 2015 production about the son of a Jewish musician who left Morocco amid racial tensions spurred by the Yom Kippur war.

Reactions to the festival were overwhelmingly positive, said Paloma, a singer of Judeo-Spanish music and a researcher on identity and the arts in Moroccan Judaism. She has lived in Casablanca since 2009 with her Moroccan-Jewish husband, Maurice Elbaz, who helped her produce the festival on a shoestring budget that sufficed because the filmmakers waived their fees.

But the event also provoked negative reactions in Morocco, which despite being one of the Muslim world’s few countries where Jewish heritage is celebrated openly, nonetheless has a vociferous anti-Israel lobby that at times resorts to anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Jaouad Benaissi, an author and former member of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces party, complained on Facebook about the festival’s theme, writing that “man-made artworks have nothing to do with religion,” and therefore the Jewish theme was inappropriate – a message similar to that of Abdelilah Jouhari, a journalist who accused Paloma of “trying to make business with religion,” as reported by the news site Le 360.

There were plenty of other criticisms.

The Secretary General of the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization with the Zionist Entity, Aziz Hnawa, couched his criticism on the claim that such a festival is discriminatory on the basis of religion and race. Meaning that a Jewish film festival discriminates against non-Jews. He said that such a festival could be used to foment unrest among other minority groups in Northern Africa, who might demand their own film festivals!

He also was upset that some of the films referred to Israel as opposed to "The Zionist Entity."

Film critic Hassan Benslakhh said that to organize such a festival in Morocco is a high provocation.

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Morocco proves acting like a bully works

Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara is, by any measure, far more oppressive than anything Israel is doing in the territories.

A brief recap:

In 1975, in violation of a World Court judgement, Morocco invaded the former Spanish colony and effectively annexed it. The people who lived in the territory, the Sahrawi, fled in their thousands as their villages were burned and livestock slaughtered.

Tens of thousands were driven into refugee camps across the border with Algeria where they remain to this day, surviving as best they can on pitiful levels of humanitarian aid. Those who stayed in their homes face severe repression in a police state which maintains an armed force over 100,000 strong for a population of just 500,000.

Also, Morocco moved hundreds of thousands of Moroccans to Western Sahara to change its demographics and ensure that it would not be separated again.

Morocco is also far more aggressive than Israel when it comes to how people treat it. The latest example comes from how Morocco reacted when Ban Ki Moon referred to the Western Sahara as occupied:

Escalating an angry dispute with the leader of the United Nations, Morocco gave the organization a 72-hour deadline on Thursday to evacuate 84 members of its mission in the disputed Western Sahara territory.

The Moroccan order threatened to paralyze the work of the mission, which has played a peacekeeping role for 25 years.

The United Nations Security Council held urgent private consultations on Thursday afternoon over the Moroccan order, which came a day after Morocco announced a big cut in civilian support for the mission; withdrawal of its $3 million in financial support; and other unspecified steps.

The president of the Security Council for March, Ambassador Ismael Abraão Gaspar Martins of Angola, emerged later to tell reporters that members were continuing to talk and that they wanted to ensure the mission’s stability. He offered no specifics but said, “every problem has a solution.”

The moves suddenly transformed Western Sahara, a former Spanish protectorate riven by a war for independence after it was seized by Morocco in 1975, from a sensitive, percolating issue into something more pressing.

It complicated the Security Council’s agenda in the midst of crises in Syria, Yemen, Libya and other hot spots.

The Moroccan foreign minister, Salaheddine Mezouar, who held a tense meeting with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday at Mr. Ban’s office at the United Nations, said his country’s actions were a response to what he called Mr. Ban’s “unacceptable statements and condemnable actions” in describing Western Sahara as an occupied region.

Mr. Ban used that terminology during a trip this month to neighboring Algeria, where he visited a camp for Western Sahara refugees.

In an unusually blunt response, Mr. Ban reiterated to the foreign minister that Western Sahara’s status had yet to be decided. Mr. Ban also said he had been personally offended by protests directed at him and the United Nations in Morocco last Sunday over his perceived bias on the Western Sahara dispute.

Morocco routinely arrests journalists who report on protests by the Sahrawi. It acts with an impunity and aggression far beyond what Israel has ever done.

And it is rewarded. The UN and EU refuse to call the Western Sahara "occupied," but "disputed," as this NYT article does. There is very little press coverage about the repression and thuggery practiced by Moroccan troops. Even HRW and Amnesty, whose members have been expelled from Morocco, refuse to call Western Sahara "occupied."

The only difference I have found is that Israel didn't annex the West Bank, and says that its status is disputed. Yet Jerusalem, which Israel does claim, is never referred to as "disputed" by the media or the UN and EU.

In other words, Morocco plays hardball, and it is rewarded by the people it treats with contempt. Israel tries to act like a good citizen and accommodate those who are hostile to its very existence and who use any excuse they can to damn the Jewish state - and it results in more negative coverage and contempt by the world community for its actions.

There is a lesson or two here.

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Morocco and Jordan join GCC in calling Hizballah a terrorist organization

Sky News Arabia confirms that Morocco and Jordan have also declared Hizballah to be considered a terrorist organization, joining the Gulf states who declared the same last week.

This goes beyond the EU position that only Hizballah's "military wing" is considered terrorist.

Morocco made its declaration last week at a meeting of the Arab Interior Ministers in Tunisia. That group as a whole also issued a statement not binding on its members declaring Hizballah to be terrorist, although Tunisia did not agree to that wording and said that Hizballah "has played an important role for Lebanon and the Palestinian cause."

As reported here before, Iran is very upset over this but so far the only ones supporting Iran in this matter are Algeria, Syria, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and Israeli Arab ministers.

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The Palestinian Authority supports the occupation and settlements (of Western Sahara)

Hypocrisy abounds:

In a working visit to Morocco, a Palestinian delegation met with the leader of opposition party l’Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires, known as USFP, according to Arabic daily Al Ittihad Al Ichtiraki in its Friday issue.

USFP leader Driss Lachgar discussed the Moroccan Sahara with Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee.

According to the daily, both leaders agreed that “the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and that of Palestine will now be at the center of their diplomatic cooperation.”

The meeting was held in presence of the Ambassador of Palestine to Morocco, Amine Ahmed Mohamed Abou Hassira, as well as three other Fatah leaders alongside Abba Zaki.

The working visit of the Palestinian delegation comes just weeks after Palestinian Foreign Minister Ryad El Maliki visited Morocco and declared Palestine’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.

According to the same source, Minister El Maliki stated Palestine’s position in favor of “a settlement of the conflict within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty.”

“There is no need to make any comparison between the Palestinian cause and the Moroccan Sahara issue,” El Maliki stressed.

“We struggle against the Israeli occupation since 1948 and Morocco struggles for the achievement of its territorial integrity,” he added.

The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara is about as clear-cut example of occupation as you can imagine. In 1975, the International Court of Justice ruled that Morocco and Mauritania has no legal claims on the land and that the native Sahrawi had the right to self-determination. Immediately afterwards, Morocco took over two thirds of the country and Mauritania the other third. In 1978, Mauritania made a peace deal with the Sahrawi and gave them their third of the land - and Morocco took that over as well (although a percentage of the and is controlled by the Sahrawis.) . Hundreds of thousands of Moroccan settlers have moved to the territory under army protection, and they now outnumber the natives by as much as 3-1.

Most nations consider Morocco's annexation of western Sahara to be illegal. .

For Palestinians to side with the occupiers and settlers in Western Sahara shows that their claims to be on the side of international law (and on the side of people under occupation) is a joke.

Notice also that while the Sahrawis make no claim against Morocco itself, this Palestinian foreign minister says explicitly that Israel is occupying Palestinian territory since 1948 - meaning that he admits that the PLO goal is to gain all of Israel. The claims of "occupation" to the West are a smokescreen.

(h/t Daled Amos)

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Tension mounts between Algeria and Morocco - and Jews are blamed

Here's an article in the North Africa Post telling the Moroccan side of the story of their long standing dispute with Algeria:

The deep causes of the antagonism between the two countries lie deep in the colonial legacy that left huge territorial imbalances penalizing Morocco and Tunisia in favour of Algeria.

After emerging from their independence struggle, Morocco and Tunisia were well aware that Algeria acquired its geographic extent at their expense and were hoping that an independent anti-colonial Algeria will repair the territorial injustices caused by colonialism. However, history took another course with the takeover of the army commanders in Algiers and the subordination of politicians. All the promises given by the political leaders of the Algerian provisional government prior to Algeria’s independence were renounced including the promise given to Morocco’s King Mohammed V to negotiate the borders in gratitude for Morocco’s support for the Algerian resistance and the Kingdom’s refusal to negotiate the status of the borders with France. Right after independence the omens of territorial consolidation began to manifest itself in the revolutionary military commanders that emerged as Algeria’s kingmakers. Thus, Tunisia was propelled to give up its territorial claims and signed an agreement recognizing the post-colonial borders with Algiers, while skirmishes took place with Morocco over the region of Tindouf. This low-intensity war in the early 1960s opposing Morocco and Algeria, known as “Sand war”, ended with a military victory for Morocco. However, the Kingdom fell short of retrieving what it deems historically Moroccan lands.

As a result, Algeria has been supporting the groups that are against Morocco's occupation of Western Dahara:

Strikingly enough, the very retrieval of Western Sahara by Morocco sounded the alarm bell for Algerian military junta who saw in the move an attempt to revive the aspirations for a “Greater Morocco,” an idea that resounds in history referring to an era where Moroccan dynasties ruled Mauritania, northern Mali and most of western Algeria.

But it is easier to blame Jews for these decades-old disputes.

Andre Azoulay

Algeria's Akbar El-Youm says that Jews are really the ones who are goading Morocco into confrontation with Algeria.

[We cannot] not rule out the existence of a dirty Zionist scheme that aims to ignite a war between Morocco and Algeria, two of the Arab countries that have so far escaped from the Arab infighting...These are not merely guesses and speculation, but a degree of certainty there is a real Zionist scheme aimed at fueling a fierce war between Algeria and Morocco similar to those that took place between Iraq and Iran during the 1980s that led to the exhaustion of the two countries both classified in the category of "Israel's enemies". There is no doubt that the Zionists will never forgive Algeria's unconditional support for the Palestinian cause, which made Algeria one of the most loved countries in the occupied Palestinian territories where their children raise the flag of our country through many of the clashes that took place recently between them and the Zionist occupation soldiers. It is known that the Jews were behind the lobby that controls the joints of the decision-making in Morocco, the Jew Azoulay is one of the most prominent of King Mohammed VI's advisers if not the most powerful of all, one of the defenders for the security of so-called Israel and supporters of two states (Israel and Palestine) on the holy land of Palestine. André Azoulay who also served as an adviser to King Hassan II is the face of a large Jewish community in Morocco, which is among the largest Jewish communities in the Arab and Islamic countries.

The article goes on to list other prominent Moroccan Jews, and uses as evidence of their nefarious nature that one of them said in a ceremony 6 years ago that "Jews will not disappear from Morocco, we have a long history here."

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Iranian mindset revealed in spat with Morocco

From Middle East Monitor:

The Kingdom of Morocco has expressed its anger at the report published a few days ago by Iranian Fars news agency accusing Morocco of executing an "Israeli agenda". The report was entitled "Morocco prisoner to Zionist policies".

The official spokesman for the Moroccan government, Mustapha El Khalfi, stated yesterday that "Rabat strongly rejects any abuse directed at the Kingdom, regardless of its source," stressing that "regardless of the intentions and pretexts for the abuses directed at the country, they are rejected and unacceptable and must be condemned."

El Khalfi also added that, "Morocco is a sovereign, free, independent country that exercises its policies and sovereignty in accordance with the constitution that frames the state and is not subject to the dictations of any other party." He noted that "just as Morocco does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country, it firmly refuses to allow any other party to interfere in its affairs."

The next part is actually quite interesting:

The report was published by Fars, the media agency of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, one day after King Mohammed VI of Morocco hosted several foreign ambassadors appointed to work in the diplomatic sector in Rabat. These ministers included the new Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Taqi Moayyed, marking the thawing of relations between the two countries that's have been icy since 2009.

After five years of no diplomatic relations, Iran finally achieved its goal of rapprochement with Morocco - and the very next day they spit in Morocco's face.

What's going on?

Perhaps the answer is that Iran doesn't want friendly relations with the rest of the Muslim world - it wants to dominate the Muslim world. The hardliners in the Revolutionary Guards seem to subscribe to the view that weakness is despicable, and Morocco's making peace with Iran is a sign of weakness. Therefore, it invites Iran to assert its superiority by insulting its new friends.

It sure looks like that is how Iran treats the US with every new concession.

Unlike Egypt, Morocco welcomes Jewish pilgrims

Egyptian courts may have decided this week that they don't want Jews to visit the gravesite of Yaakov Abuhatzeira, making up ludicrous excuses to bar Jews from the country, but not all Arab countries are following suit.

There are a series of pilgrimages to the gravesites of famous rabbis in Morocco throughout the year. One of them is happening around now, as Jews of Moroccan origin from around the world are visiting the grave of Rabbi David Ben Baruch Hakohen Azogh.

These pilgrimages are known as hiloulot and they take place on the anniversaries of the rabbi's deaths. Many are also celebrated at Lag B'Omer in the spring.

Moroccan news media are quite supportive of the influx of Jewish pilgrims, even the ones from Israel. There were a number of sympathetic articles about this most recent pilgrimage to the town of Taroudant where Rabbi Azogh's grave is. The articles note how these pilgrimages are opportunities for members of Moroccan Jewish families now spread throughout the world to have reunions.

There is even a ten minute news video about the visits that seems to be very supportive of the influx of Jews to Morocco. Note one interviewee is clearly from Israel.

Morocco and Egypt ban "Exodus: Gods and Kings" Here's why.

Egyptian censors have decided to ban the Ridley Scott Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings."

Two reasons were given.

One is that the film apparently implies that the Jews built the Pyramids, a very touchy subject in Egypt.

The second is that the film characterizes the splitting of the "Red Sea" as the result of an earthquake, not as a direct miracle from Allah.

The Koran does discuss the Exodus story, including the splitting of the sea, in chapter 26.

Morocco censors also banned the film, but they did it after some theaters started the first showing, causing much confusion. No official reason was given, but Morocco had also banned the biblical film Noah.

The misery of Jews of Morocco, 1805

Today is Israel's national day of commemorating Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran.

Muslims like to pretend that they treated Jews in their lands well throughout history. As we have shown a number of times, that is not at all true. In some cases the Jews were treated reasonably, in others they were treated horribly.

Ali Bey al Abbasi was a pseudonym of a European traveler who disguised himself as a Muslim prince in order to explore the Muslim world from Morocco to Mecca between 1803 and 1807.

Here is his account of the Jews of Morocco, from Travels of Ali Bey: In Morocco, Tripoli, Cyprus, Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Turkey : Between the Years 1803 and 1807:

THE Jews in Morocco are in the most abject state of slavery; but at Tangier it is remarkable that they live intermingled with the Moors, without having any separate quarter, which is the case in all other places where the Mahometan religion prevails. This distinction occasions perpetual disagreements; it excites disputes, in which, if the Jew is wrong, the Moor takes his own satisfaction; and if the Jew is right, he lodges a complaint with the judge, who always decides in favour of the Mussulman. This shocking partiality in the dispensation of justice between individuals of different sects begins from the cradle; so that a Mussulman child will insult and strike a Jew, whatever be his age and infirmities, without his being allowed to complain, or even to defend himself. This inequality prevails even among the children of these different religions; so that I have seen the Mahometan children amuse themselves with beating little Jews, without these daring to defend themselves.

The Jews are obliged, by order of the Government, to wear a particular dress» composed of large drawers, of a tunic, which descends to their knees, Of a kind of burnous or cloak thrown on one side, slippers, and a very small cap; every part of their dress is black except the shirt, of which the sleeves are extremely wide, open, and hanging down very low.

When a Jew passes before a mosque, he is obliged to take off his slippers, or sandals; he must do the same when he passes before the house of the Kaid, the Kadi, or of any Mussulman of distinction. At Fez ami in some other towns they are obliged to walk barefoot.

When they meet a Mussulman of high rank they are obliged to turn away hastily to a certain distance on the left of the road, to leave their sandals on the ground several paces off, and to put themselves into a most humble posture, their body intirely bent forward, till the Mussulman has passed to a great distance; if they hesitate to do this, or to dismount from their horse when they meet a Mahometan, they are severely punished. I have often been obliged to restrain my soldiers or servants from beating these poor wretches, when they were not active enough in placing themselves in the humble attitude prescribed on them by the Mahometan tyranny.

Notwithstanding these inconveniencies, the Jews carry on a considerable trade at Morocco, and have even several times farmed the custom-house; but it happens almost always that in the end they are plundered by the Moors, or by the Government. On my arrival, I had two Jews amongst my servants: when I saw that they were so ill treated and vexed in different ways, I asked them why they did not go to another country; they answered me, that they could not do so because they were slaves of the sultan.

Arabs protest photo exhibit of Sephardic Jews in Morocco

Last night a photo exhibition opened at the Instituto Cervantes in Tangier, Morocco, teaching the history of Jews in Morocco who were expelled from Spain in 1492, concentrating on those in northern Morocco.

Naturally, Arabs protested.

If stepping on an Israeli flag shows disapproval of Israel, what does this show?

The interesting thing is the reasons they gave for protesting. They can't say "we hate Jews" because the official Arab line is that they have no problem with Jews. So they protested by saying that a Spanish cultural center hosting an exhibit on Spanish Jews in Morocco is a form of - normalization with Israel.

The protesters noted that the exhibit was sponsored by a group called Sepharad Israel which is - shudder -Zionist!

They also heckled the police who stopped them from shutting down the cultural center by saying that they were allied with the Zionists.

Some idiots will, of course, believe them when they say that their motivation is pure anti-Zionism and nothing to do with centuries-old antipathy of Jews in Arab countries.

Algeria and Morocco trade accusations on Syrian refugees

Arab nations pretend to be terribly concerned about the human rights situation in Syria - but not concerned enough to actually want to help them.

Morocco and Algeria, North Africa's two most powerful countries and biggest rivals, are accusing each other of mistreating Syrian refugees.

Morocco's Interior Ministry issued an official statement Tuesday protesting what it said was the rise in expulsion of Syrian refugees onto Moroccan territory by Algeria.

The statement said that between Sunday and Tuesday some 77 Syrians, including 18 women and 43 children had been expelled. The statement follows up on similar accusations in Moroccan media over the past week.

The spokesman for Algeria's Foreign Ministry, Amar Belani, said Thursday that the stories of expulsions were complete lies by the Moroccan "pseudo-media that specializes in nauseating bubbling of the anti-Algerian media swamp."

Algerian security forces along the border told the Algerian state news agency on Monday that in fact it was the Moroccans who were expelling Syrians into Algeria.

"The gendarmes refused access to the national territory to Syrian refugees that the Moroccan authorities wanted to expel to Algeria," said Col. Mohammed Boualleg. "It was after this refusal that the Moroccan authorities called on their media to wrongly accuse the Algerians of expelling Syrians."

Morocco is a major jumping off point for immigrants, usually from sub-Saharan Africa, seeking entry into Europe.

In the past, when Morocco has caught Africans who entered from Algeria hoping to cross into Europe, it expelled them into the deserts along the border with Algeria.

Morocco party pushing bill to outlaw "normalization" with Israel

From Bladi.net:

Any Moroccans who would visit Israel could receive a sentence ranging from two to five years in prison and a fine ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 euros, according to a proposed bill criminalizing the normalization of relations with Israel.

The bill created a strong controversy in Parliament, dividing the political elite and Moroccan organizations defending human rights. Some believe that this "bill is unconstitutional and influenced by Nazi tendencies ".

Others argue that this text is a clear violation of international covenants and treaties on human rights, denouncing a bill "sterile", which would undermine the image of Morocco that supports pluralism. "

The originally proposed text, by the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization with Israel, is supported by five political groups, including the Justice and Development Party (PJD), currently in power.

The bill condemns all forms of normalization with the Jewish state ,whether economic, political, artistic, or cultural.

A report earlier this month said that Morocco bought over $51 million worth of goods from Israel in the first ten months of this year, much more than last year. Morocco also exported some $4.2 million of goods to Israel in the same time period, a slight decline over the same period in 2012.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

To the West, not all occupied territories are equal (UPDATE)

An interesting thing happened last week:

In today's meeting of EU Ambassadors, a majority of EU Member States indicated to favour the newly proposed EU-Morocco fisheries protocol, which opens for EU fishing in the waters of occupied Western Sahara.

Though many Member States voiced their concerns on the protocol, a majority could be reached in today’s COREPER meeting. The decision to sign the EU’s most criticised fisheries protocol will be formalised at a Council meeting in the coming weeks.

Throwing its massive voting weight in the scale, Germany ended up supporting the controversial protocol that the Spanish government has lobbied so hard for. As far as WSRW understands, the German government will issue a statement that their endorsement should not be viewed as uncritical support.

Five Member States could not agree to the proposed protocol. Sweden and Denmark voted against, while the UK, the Netherlands and Finland abstained. These countries’ stances were underpinned by concerns relating to sustainable management of the available fish stocks and EU fishing in non-Moroccan waters through a deal with Morocco.

The provisional protocol still has to pass through the European Parliament, which is not expected to express its opinion before December.

Here is a more detailed description of how the previous version of the protocol worked, and this one does not change these key points:

According to the EU-Morocco Fisheries Agreement, to which the Protocol sets the terms and conditions, fishing can take place in “the waters under the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Morocco”. This is the core of the problem.

While no state in the world recognises Morocco’s claims to Western Sahara, Morocco itself views the territory as its own. Since the Agreement fails to stipulate the southern coordinates of the fishing zones, it is left to Morocco to interpret where the European vessels can fish.

The EU is saying that they can directly exploit natural resources in illegally occupied territories.

Its not only Europe, though. Last month Canada decided it can take natural resources away from the occupied people of Western Sahara, by dealing with a Moroccan company that does business over the border:

On 24 October, the bulk carrier Ultra Bellambi is scheduled to arrive at Vancouver. On board of the freighter are 60.000 tonnes of phosphate rock from the Bou Craa mines in Western Sahara. The cargo is worth almost $10 million. That money however, will not end up with the Saharawi people of Western Sahara - the original and sole people of the territory - but with the Moroccan regime that has occupied large parts of their country since 1975.

The phosphate rock was purchased by Calgary based Agrium Inc, under the terms of an agreement it concluded earlier this year with Moroccan state owned company Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP). Agrium confirmed to Canadian newspaper The Tyee that it would import one million tonnes each year until 2020, and that part of the imports will be sourced in Western Sahara.

A UN Legal Opinion on exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources is quite clear that such activity is illegal if not done in accordance with the wishes and the interests of the people of the territory - the Saharawi. The latter have unequivocally stated that they do not consent to Agrium's imports, through a letter by their political representation Frente Polisario to the company.

The EU made a big deal over saying that it had no choice but to adhere to guidelines restricting activity with Israeli companies that do business over the Green Line; international law demands it.

But it appears that it has no problem with such pesky legalities in the Western Sahara.

UPDATE: Eugene Kontorovich has more detail in a memo he wrote and sent me via email:

Differences With Israeli Agreements

1) Territorial Scope. The fisheries agreement applies not just to the “territory” of Morocco, but to all areas under its “jurisdiction,” which is understood to include Western Sahara. In agreements with Israel, however, the EU has only applied it to the “territory” of Israel, which is understood to exclude the West Bank, as well as Jerusalem. The new Funding Guidelines go further and exclude entities with operations in the territories. The guidelines claim that their approach is required by “international law” to avoid recognizing Israel sovereignty over the territories. The Moroccan case proves this concern false and pretextual.

2) Funding. The EU says that its “tax dollars” cannot be spent in occupied territory. Yet it pays Morocco specifically to exploit the scarce resources of occupied territory, against the wishes of its political representatives. This is much more severe than awarding science grants or prizes for, say, archeological research in the Golan.

EU Parliament’s Formal Legal Opinion: Essential Resource for Israel.

The agreement was adopted despite massive opposition from the political representatives of the Western Saharan people, as well as some European nations. As a result of the controversy, the European Parliament obtained an opinion from its legal advisor.[1] The official opinion, in brief, says international law does not prevent Morocco from exploiting the natural resources of the occupied territory, let alone merely doing business there. Despite the complete opposition of the Sawahari leadership, the incidental economic benefits of “development” (which the Sawahari deny exists) can be considered sufficient to satisfy Morocco’s obligation to them. Moreover, the opinion says it is legal for the EU to pay Morocco to exploit the resources of occupied territory.[2]

The Legal Opinion is consistent with all prior international law, including a 2002 opinion by the Security Council’s legal advisor, and a ruling of the French Court of Appeals. Indeed, the EU Parliament’s legal advisor may be a bit softer on the extent and nature of the benefit to the local population.

CONCLUSIONS

The positions adopted by the EU in its negotiations with Israel over grants and product labeling are inconsistent with those it has taken at the same time in its dealings with Morocco. While the EU does not recognize Israel’s control over the territories, and opposes it, the same is true of its policy towards Morocco in Western Sahara. Yet this policy does not require, nor does international law, the punitive measures adopted toward Israel. In particular, the EU has used entirely fabricated international law claims in its dealing with Israel, claims contradicted by its own legal advisors.

Perversely, the EU’s treatment of Morocco encourages Israel to conduct more economic activity in the territories. The EU was been under strong pressure to sign the deal with Morocco because of Spanish and French interests in the fish in the occupied territory. They simply did not want to lose an economic opportunity. Thus Israel’s problem may be not enough business in the territories, rather than too much. If significant Israeli defense, high-tech or biotech enterprises on which at least some European industries rely were relocated in eastern Jerusalem, the Golan or the West Bank, the Moroccan precedent suggests this would have the surprising effect of reducing diplomatic pressures on Israel.

[1] See Legal Opinion of Ricardo Passos, Director, Legal Service of the European Parliament, SJ-0665/13 (Nov. 4, 2013).

[2] The Opinion said international law would be satisfied if Morocco allocated “a certain amount of the financial contribution” fro Europe to the “population” of Western Sahara. Id. at Par. 31. By contrast, the EU settlement guidelines make a narrow exception for activities that “aim” at “benefiting protected persons,” an international law phrase intended to refer to Palestinians. Under the EU legal opinion, benefit to Moroccans in Western Sahara would suffice, and such benefit need not be the “aim,” but could be purely incidental.

Latest #BDSFail: Morocco exporting etrogim to Israel

Hebrew and Arabic media are reporting that, for the first time, Morocco is exporting etrogim (citrons used during the upcoming holiday of Sukkot) to Israel.

According to some experts, the etrogim grown on Mount Atlas in Morocco are the closest one to the biblical "פרי עץ הדר" mentioned in the Torah. Spanish Jews prefer to use this strain of etrog.

The first shipment of 1500 etrogim have arrived, and apparently more are coming.

Also, there is no shortage of lulavim (palm fronds) also used for the holiday as there were last year, when Israel had to import them from Jordan. The entire supply of between 600,000 and 700,000 lulavim is being grown domestically this year.

Last year, Gaza farmers lost $1 million when Hamas forbade export of palm fronds to Israel.

A new synagogue opens in Morocco (updated)

I don't have a translation, but this story of a new synagogue being dedicated in Salé, Morocco is apparently being covered quite nicely in the Moroccan media:

The comments on the story do have some antisemitic elements, though, with some mention of "sons of monkeys and pigs" and some noises that Morocco is helping Jews while abandoning Islam.

The good news is that the remaining Moroccan Jewish community, reportedly numbering about 5000, appears to be vibrant and surprisingly young, unless the younger people were imported for the occasion.

UPDATE: Bataween of the Jewish Refugees blogspot believes that this is about the annual pilgrimage or Hiloula to the tomb of the venerated rabbi Raphael Encaoua at Sale a couple of weeks ago. Makes sense because the younger people are French pilgrims.

Morocco Muslims freak out over Belgium beauties

From Al Arabiya:

Pictures of candidates for Belgium Beauty Queen 2013 taken at Morocco’s largest mosque have stirred controversy in the North African kingdom, whose government is led by an Islamist party that won an election last year.

The pictures, being circulated online, raised questions about the responsible government agencies that granted the license for the photo shoot of the belles of Belgium in their tank tops and short shorts in the square of Casablanca's Hassan II Mosque.

Popular Moroccan news website Hespress quoted a source from the ministry of Islamic affairs denying any role for the ministry in the incident and pointing fingers at the mosque’s administration, which is in charge of the overall management of one of the world's largest Islamic landmarks.

Casablanca’s city council has also distanced itself from the incident. One of its members said the council did not authorize the photo shoot at the mosque.

Hespress quoted prominent religious preacher Sheikh Abdul-Bari Zamzami as holding the interior ministry responsible for the incident.

Some people saw the incident as unacceptable and called for the responsible parties to be held accountable. Others expressed disinterest stressing the mosque lacks serious religious significance because it was built as “tourist destination not as a house of worship.”

“I have never prayed in this Mosque and I do not qualify it as a real Mosque. We all know that this mosque has been forcefully built by robbing and stealing the pockets of million Moroccans under various authority threats,” one person commented on Hespress.

Another one said, “Farce after farce; does it make sense that such moral crimes take place in Morocco, especially under the rule of the Islamist Justice and Development Party.”

This is not an ancient, venerated mosque. It was built in 1993:

The Hassan II Mosque is a mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. It is the largest mosque in the country and the 7th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world's tallest at 210 metres (689 ft). Completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau and built by Bouygues. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, the sea bed being visible through the glass floor of the building's hall. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque's outside grounds.