RABAT, Morocco — Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has authorized the reorganization of the country’s Jewish community, which is a “component” of the national culture in the North African country, according to the royal palace.
The measures were presented on Wednesday at a council of ministers meeting attended by the country’s monarch and crown prince at the royal palace in Rabat.
According to the official news agency MAP, acting on “royal directives”, Interior Minister Abdeloufi Laftit proposed the establishment of new representative bodies, acknowledging the Jewish tradition as “a component of the rich Moroccan culture”.
The measures came on the same day that US President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on his first presidential visit to the Middle East.
In a speech at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Biden promised to “further Israel’s integration in the region.”
Morocco established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 2020.
King Mohammed VI of Morocco, at the Royal Palace in OK, Fez, Morocco, September 10, 2021. (Moroccan Royal Palace via AP)
The state’s Jewish community is estimated to number 3,000, the largest in North Africa. Following consultation with Jewish leaders, King Mohammed’s initiative would establish a National Council of the Moroccan Jewish Community, a Foundation of Moroccan Judaism tasked with protecting the community’s heritage, and a Commission of Moroccan Jews.
The state’s Jewish community dates back to antiquity and flourished with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the 15th century.
By the 1940s this number had grown to 250,000, representing 10 percent of the country’s population, but mass migration occurred after Israel’s founding in 1948.
About 700,000 Israelis claim Moroccan ancestry and maintain strong ties with their country of origin.
Example: Defense Minister Benny Gantz with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in Rabat, Morocco, November 24, 2021. (AP photo/Mosab Elshamie)
This new organization of Moroccan Judaism coincides with developments in the relationship between Morocco and Israel in several areas.
Israel and Morocco established diplomatic relations in December 2020 as part of the US-backed Abrahamic Agreement, in which several Arab countries normalized relations with the Jewish state.
King Mohamed’s appearance at the meeting was his second public appearance in three days, with Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, amid public interest in the monarch’s health since 2018 following two heart operations and a June COVID-19 diagnosis .
On Sunday, during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, the king offered prayers at a royal residence in Sail, near Rabat.
