Twenty years after Israel closed its liaison office in Morocco, a new Israeli chargé d’affaires arrived in the country on Tuesday and officially opened an Israeli consulate in the capital city of Rabat.

David Govrin, who served as the Israeli ambassador to Egypt from 2016-2020, will now represent Israel in a second north African country.

Israel and Morocco maintained low-level diplomatic relations from 1994 until 2000, when Rabat cut ties during the Second Intifada. However, both countries maintained possession of their liaison offices in each other’s countries, allowing a quick reopening of the offices following the peace deal reached in December.

Both countries plan to open full embassies in the future.

Morocco was once home to a large Jewish population, many stemming from ancestors who migrated to North Africa from Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition. The majority of the population left in 1948 after the state of Israel was declared and Morrocan Jews and their descendants comprise one of Israel’s largest immigrant groups. Today, about 3,000 Jews live in Morocco, mainly in Casablanca – the largest Jewish community in North Africa.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)