Despite death threats, young Moroccans visit during Gaza war to hear Israel’s side
Diaspora Affairs Minister Chikli’s comments on Islam spur debate, but scenes of Palestinians living peacefully in Jerusalem’s Old City inspire hope for coexistence and love
When Ali arrived in Israel last Sunday on his first visit to the country, he was surprised by how modern and developed the Jewish state was.
A student and a self-described future hopeful to be his country’s ambassador to Israel, Ali — who requested that his real name not be used because of death threats back home — is one of 23 Moroccan twenty-somethings currently touring Israel.
“We landed in Ben Gurion [Airport], and I thought we were in Miami,” Ali said at a celebratory dinner for the delegation on Tuesday night.
The group is in Israel with Sharaka, an organization that brings delegations of young professionals from around the Middle East to the country to learn more about the Jewish state and connect with its residents on a “person-to-person” level.
Since arriving in Israel, the Moroccan delegation has visited the Knesset, Yad Vashem, the Old City of Jerusalem, Al Aqsa Mosque and other cultural and historical sites around Jerusalem. They went south to visit the site of the Nova festival massacre and kibbutzim decimated by Hamas’s October 7 terror attack, then headed to Tel Aviv.
Youssef Elazhari, Shakara’s director in Morocco, was active in recruiting young civil society up-and-comers — whom he described as primarily nonprofit organization employees — to take part in the trip. Elazhari acknowledged that the participants might face social pressure back home over their journey to Israel while the IDF is fighting the Hamas terror group in Gaza, but that did not deter them from coming.
“There was…. no fear,” Elazhari said.
Clash of civilizations?
On Tuesday, at a dinner at the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, the Moroccan visitors met around 20 young Israeli influencers involved with Diploact, a program that promotes Israel advocacy through social media.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli addressed the event with a speech in which he characterized Israel’s ongoing war as a broader “religious” struggle against the Islamic Republic, the transnational Muslim Brotherhood and a “radical and fundamentalist ideology” that he said is on the rise.
“When we are looking at what’s happening in the Western civilization. The situation is not very simple, because the value of truth, of facts — the Judeo-Christian values, the moderate Muslim values — they’re not very strong,” Chikli said in his speech.
“But even without knowing you, I know that you cherish life, and you cherish the facts and the truth,” he continued. “And you would like to see partnership among states in the Middle East with Israel, and to see the Middle East flourishing and not sinking into the Middle Ages, which is the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, the theology of the ayatollahs of Iran.”
At the conclusion of Chikli’s speech, Layla, a Moroccan professional visiting Israel for the first time, questioned the minister’s characterization of the war.
“You said that it’s not a war against people, it’s a war against ideology,” Layla said. “How do you intend to fight this ideology?”
In a lengthy response, Chikli explained the historical etymology of the name “Palestine” to support his claim that there was never a Palestinian state, and emphasized repeatedly that Hamas and its supporters do not cherish life, but wish death on others.
I am Muslim, and I think our religion is beautiful. I think we should show empathy for the civilians in Gaza
Later, Layla told The Times of Israel that she had concerns over Chikli’s characterization of Islam.
“I did not agree with him,” she said. “I am Muslim, and I think our religion is beautiful. I think we should show empathy for the civilians in Gaza.”
Open to hearing new narratives about Israel
Layla, who learned about the Sharaka trip from Elazhari, said she felt inspired to visit Israel because she was curious about the different narratives she had heard about Israel’s war.
Ultimately, she described feeling hopeful about future peace and understanding between Israel and the Arab world.
“On my way to Al-Aqsa,” she recounted, “I saw Palestinians playing in the streets. No one was aggressive toward them, they were being respected, and I think that this image gives hope that there can be coexistence and love between Israelis and Palestinians.”
But Layla is also facing threats back home over her trip from university students.
“Anything that restores back the image of Israel and that it is human, and not monsters that kill all Palestinians, is seen as propaganda,” she told The Times of Israel.
“This hate is real. People don’t want us to talk about how Israel wants peace.”
Salah Ghrissi, a professional from Fez, echoed the desire to come to Israel to learn the country’s history firsthand.
“I believe I have some gaps in my knowledge of history and I think this is the best opportunity to fill these gaps,” he said. “Right now I get to see this other version of history — it’s not the things that they taught us.”
Ghrissi expressed that much of the information he and his community hear about Israel and its ongoing war is from “propaganda TV and social media,” leading to a one-sided narrative.
Ghrissi learned about the trip from Moroccan singer Hodayah, who counts Hebrew songs among her repertoire and has made Middle Eastern unity a focus of her musical career. Hodayah performed at the museum dinner as the crowd danced, mingled and documented the event on their social media.
This is what a call a Moroccan and Israeli celebration ???? ????????????????
One day we will have also a Lebanese and Israeli celebration ???? pic.twitter.com/1SNmUEQ8ba
— Jonathan Elkhoury- جوناثان الخوري (@Jonathan_Elk) July 9, 2024
War as a turning point
Israel and Morocco signed a normalization agreement in December 2020, as part of the United States-backed Abraham Accords. The joint declaration allowed for airlines to begin flying directly between the two countries, liaison offices to reopen, and the two countries to begin economic and diplomatic cooperation.
After the Hamas terror group’s shock onslaught on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage amid acts of brutality and sexual assault, and the onset of Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas, which has resulted in the deaths of over 38,000 Palestinian civilians an according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, Moroccans from across the country’s political spectrum have taken to the streets in the tens of thousands to denounce Israel and demand their government “overturn normalization.”
The young Moroccans acknowledged that the war was a turning point for public opinion on Israel, but stressed that the shift in discourse did not spark significant antisemitism against Moroccan Jews.
“They are Moroccans,” Ali said of the local Jewish community.
When asked how other Moroccans could change their perceptions of Israel, Ali’s answer was decisive.
“They have to come to Israel,” he said. “They have to visit.”
However, Ali acknowledged, “most of us here with Sharaka, we liked Israel before the trip. Why would someone come to a country they don’t like?”
