Morocco’s Justice and Development Party has condemned attempts by a number of Arab states and Persian Gulf kingdoms to normalize diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime, describing them as “dwarfs who will be hurled into the dustbin of history.”
“The people who normalize relations with the Zionist entity are dwarfs controlled by America and the Zionist entity. They cannot escape their destiny in the dustbin of history,” Naziha Maarij, a leader of the Islamic party, said in an exclusive interview with the Palestinian Arabic-language Shehab news agency.
“The people of Morocco have a neighborhood in occupied [Jerusalem] al-Quds, which they will not abandon. It is a neighborhood that has included Moroccan religious scholars, mosques, and ancient history,” she added.
The Moroccan politician further noted, “Normalization with the usurping Israeli Occupation amounts to a haram (religiously forbidden) act, because it amounts to conspiracy against the fighters who have offered everything to guard our faith and our sanctities.”
“At the very least, we should boycott the brutal Zionist entity, reject its goods and sever relations with it. Whoever normalizes with the Occupation is not a Muslim, and he is sinful in this life and will be punished in the hereafter.
“The people of Palestine are saving our faces as they are steadfast in defending the cause and sanctities, and at the very least, we should boycott the Zionist entity…,” Maarij pointed out.
The comments came after a report published by Israeli Channel 13 television network said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a “secret meeting” with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita last September.
Last month, French-language website Le Desk reported that Israel’s national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, was working to arrange a meeting between Netanyahu and King Mohammed VI of Morocco in the North African state.
Israel and several Arab states have had secret contacts for years, but the two sides have stepped up their attempts to bring their clandestine relations out in the open.
Last week, a US-organized summit in the Polish capital of Warsaw brought together Netanyahu and representatives from a number of Arab states, including Oman, Morocco, Saudi Arabic, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Kuwait, among other participants.
Following the event, Netanyahu said statements by Arab leaders at the so-called Middle East security conference have laid the groundwork for the Arab public to accept normalization of ties with Israel.
Earlier this month, the Israeli regime re-launched a “virtual embassy” in a bid to “promote dialogue” with Persian Gulf Arab states.
In the most high-profile visit by an Israeli official to Persian Gulf kingdoms, Netanyahu traveled to Oman in late November 2018, where he met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said in the coastal city of Seeb near the capital Muscat.
Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab states to have full diplomatic ties with Israel.