FALCON POWERS – Moroccan activists expressed their outrage at the appearance of Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview where he held a map that showed the disputed Sahara region separated from the official map of Morocco.
The appearance of the Israeli Prime Minister in an interview broadcast on Thursday evening on the official French channels “TF1” and “LCI” showed him holding a map of the Arab world and Iran, which excluded the Sahara from the map of Morocco.
At the official level, the Moroccan authorities remained silent in the face of this move, which critics among Moroccans considered “provocative”. According to Moroccan media reports.
Social media users expressed their strong anger at Netanyahu’s move, with one activist saying: “Once again, Netanyahu brandishes a map of Morocco mutilated from its Sahara, as a Moroccan I call for peace for all the peoples of the region, including the Jewish people, and I strongly condemn this irresponsible act, which I consider an infringement of the agreements signed between the two countries and a regression from his recognition of the Moroccanness of our Western Sahara… I expect our Moroccan Jewish citizens to be at the level of the event and to defend the interests of their motherland as the rest of their Moroccan brothers have defended and continue to defend them on all occasions. Netanyahu is a selfish person who believes only in his personal interests, even at the expense of the interests of his people and his voters, and the majority of Moroccan Jews.”
Another commented: “After the decision of the entity to universalize the recognition of the complete and full map of the Kingdom of Morocco and to disseminate it in the United Nations and all international and regional organizations in which the entity is present, is Netanyahu’s speech on French television with a map of Morocco clearly mutilated from its Sahara a coincidence?!”
An activist wrote: “I think it’s a conspiracy from the [TV] channel, especially since Netanyahu is focused on the problems and wars he is waging in the region – Gaza, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, the Houthis, Iran… And they exploited the situation… We await a clarification from the President.”
Meanwhile, an account commented: “He will pay dearly for this.”
The “Hespress” and “Lcom” websites mentioned that “this is not the first time the Israeli Prime Minister has provoked the Moroccans, as in October of last year, during his reception of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in his office, a map of the world appeared showing the southern borders of Morocco in the north of the Sahara region.”
This shot had aroused the anger and discontent of social media users in Morocco.
At the time, Netanyahu’s office justified that image “by the fact that the map in the office of the Israeli Prime Minister is old and existed before the Hebrew state recognized the Moroccanness of the Sahara.”
Later, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied any change in Tel Aviv’s official position on its recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, against the backdrop of the appearance of a map of Morocco truncated from the Sahara in Netanyahu’s office during his reception of his Italian counterpart.
Netanyahu had declared in a letter addressed to King Mohammed VI in July 2023 that Israel recognizes the Moroccanness of the Sahara, and said that “this position of his country will be embodied in all the works and documents of the United Nations, regional and international organizations of which Israel is a member, as well as all the countries with which Israel has diplomatic relations with this decision.”
