Israeli delegation to visit Morocco, first-ever direct flight

While Morocco and Israel previously had no formal diplomatic relations, the countries have a long history of intelligence sharing and cultural exchange.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

An Israeli-American delegation is set to take off for Morocco , first-ever direct fliTuesday on the first-ever direct Israeli airline flight between Tel Aviv and Rabat.

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Morocco has since agreed to normalize relations with the Jewish state, and the Israeli-American delegation will travel to the country to discuss next steps.

Senior American officials, including White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, will arrive in Tel Aviv next Monday.

White House envoy Avi Berkowitz and International Development Finance Corporation CEO Adam Boehler are also expected to join Kushner in Israel.

Kushner and others from the American delegation will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to discuss the agenda for the trip.

The American delegation is slated to fly alongside the Israeli delegation to the North African kingdom the following day.

While Morocco and Israel previously had no formal diplomatic relations, the countries have a long history of intelligence sharing and cultural exchange.

Some one million Israelis have family roots in Morocco, and while there are no direct flights between the two nations, hundreds of thousands of Israeli tourists have visited Morocco.

Tourists are allowed to enter Morocco using an Israeli passport.

Morocco is the fourth Arab country since August 2020 that has announced a Trump-brokered normalization agreement with Israel, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

On Tuesday, Israel Hayom reported that a senior government official from a large Muslim-majority Asian country recently visited Israel. despite the two countries having no diplomatic relations.

In an Army Radio interview this week, Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen suggested that the country may be Indonesia.

Indonesia denied that it is in normalization talks with Israel, reported CNN.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met with Indonesian president Suharto in Jakarta in 1993.

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