Western Sahara: Is Israel trying to put Morocco under guardianship?

By recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Israel now has a strong ally on the African continent.

It took no less than three years. While the United States recognized, at the end of 2020, the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara, in exchange for a normalization of relations between the Cherifian kingdom and Israel, Tel Aviv took a long time to also make this promised announcement of sovereignty. It is now done. But waiting for Israel to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara required a long diplomatic process.

First of all, because relations between Morocco and Israel have not always been good in recent years. Rabat has in fact never hesitated, despite its approval of the Abraham Accords, to condemn Israeli colonization vis-à-vis Palestine. Especially when Israeli violence has increased.

However, after the signing of the Abraham Accords, everything seemed to be going well in the best of both worlds between the two states. Israel had even sent, historically, senior Israeli officials to Morocco. Ministers, but also army officers, had gone to Rabat to forge economic and security partnerships. Last year, Morocco has even sought to equip itself with Israeli defense equipment.

But Morocco has finally stalled in its relations with Israel. In addition to condemning the violence perpetrated against the Palestinians, Rabat also gave up hosting the Negev Forum in June, which was to bring together the Arab countries that signed the Abraham Accords, the United States and Israel.

But if Rabat wanted to distance itself from Israel, and more particularly from its far-right government, Tel-Aviv has found a solution: recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara will oblige Rabat, in the weeks and months to come, to be more flexible with your new partner.

Morocco, through its king, had asked its partners to take a clear position on the question of Western Sahara. This is done for Israel, which can now count on the implicit support of Morocco, particularly in Africa, where Tel Aviv has already registered a snub when applying for observer status in the African Union.