JTA – A Moroccan institution has with official government backing signed an agreement with the United States (US) state department to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the second such agreement in the Arab Middle East.
The agreement, signed on 15 January by El Mehdi Boudra, the president of Association Mimouna, and Elan Carr, the US state department’s envoy to combat antisemitism, signals the far-reaching ambition of the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords to normalise the acceptance not just of Israel, but Zionism.
The memorandum of understanding says the sides “intend to work together to promote best practices for combating all forms of antisemitism, including anti-Zionism and the delegitimisation of the state of Israel” and “for combating other kinds of intolerance and hatred, including Islamophobia”.
The agreement is similar to one signed in October between Carr and a Bahrain institution. In both cases, the signing organisations aren’t government bodies but have the blessing of the royal family. Association Mimouna was founded in 2007 by Muslims who sought to preserve the country’s Jewish heritage.
The Abraham Accords, brokered by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his top Middle East envoy, Avi Berkowitz, have encompassed four countries. In addition to Bahrain and Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan have agreed to normalisation with Israel.
Each of the countries has in recent years, to varying degrees, had good relations with Jewish organisations and quiet but friendly relations with Israel. By nudging the relations into the open and by effectively getting ruling elites to bless Zionism, the architects of the Abraham Accords hope to set an example that will erode Israel’s isolation in the region.
The agreement “reinforces the partnership between our two countries in the fight against all forms of intolerance and the promotion of peace and mutual coexistence”, said Morocco’s ambassador to the US, Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui.
Published with permission from jta.org
