ADIT
Defence Web, Aug. 14, 2023
“… the Kingdom could welcome a growing number of Israeli companies and factories to its soil, as the latter could benefit from lower labour costs, while Morocco’s relative stability has long attracted European industry players such as Airbus and Safran.”
On 17 July, Israel officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. This recognition is another sign of the growing ties between the two countries.
Indeed, in December 2020, at the end of COVID-19 outbreak and just before Joe Biden took office, the Trump administration pulled off a historic coup: the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel on the one hand, and the Arab countries of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco on the other. In exchange for the normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel, Morocco also managed to wrest recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara from Washington.
Since then, Morocco and Israel have engaged in an impressive succession of contracts, notably for the supply of arms. While the North African kingdom is in the midst of modernizing its armed forces, particularly in view of tensions with its Algerian neighbour, Israel finds itself with a highly competitive defence industry in many market segments, such as heavy armour, drones and cyber.
Morocco’s military needs and the proactivity of Israeli arms manufacturers
To demonstrate their respective confidence in this partnership, the two countries also signed a framework agreement in November 2021 to provide guiding principles for cooperation between intelligence services, increased links between the two nations’ industry players, arms procurement and joint military exercises.
… [To read the full article, click here]
