Moroccan lawmakers demand closure of Israeli liaison office

RABAT, Morocco

The ruling Justice and Development Party in Morocco demanded on Monday the closure of the Israeli liaison office in the capital Rabat in response to Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

"We hope Morocco makes a decision to close the [Israeli] liaison office in Rabat as it did during the 2002 Intifada," Muhammad al-Hamdaoui, a Justice and Development Party lawmaker, said in a televised speech during a weekly session on government accountability in the Moroccan parliament's lower chamber, the House of Representatives.

Al-Hamdaoui said Moroccans were "proud of the legendary resistance recorded by the Palestinian people in defending its [Islamic] sanctities on behalf of the Ummah," referring to the global Muslim community.

The majority of the parliamentary blocs and opposition expressed their solidarity with Palestinians in the face of Israeli aggression.

Morocco became the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 after the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.

The normalization deals have since drawn widespread condemnation from Palestinians, who say the accords ignore their rights and do not serve the Palestinian cause.

On Dec. 10, Israel and Morocco announced the resumption of diplomatic relations between them after they were closed in 2002 following the second intifada uprising.

Meanwhile, Suleiman Al-Amrani, the first vice president of the House of Representatives and speaker of the session, asserted that expressing solidarity with Palestinians was an Islamic, Arab, national, human and moral obligation against aggression by Israel, which he said has attacked defenseless Palestinians, including women and children, hospitals and media offices.

Rashid Al-Abdi, a member of the main opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party, said his party expressed "absolute and unconditional solidarity" with the people of Palestine against "the continuous Israeli aggression on Gaza."

At least 212 Palestinians have been killed, including 61 children and 35 women, in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last week, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 1,400 people have also been injured and dozens of buildings destroyed or damaged in the Israeli assault.

The recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.