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Morocco military chief visits Israel with commanders from 25 armies around world

Lt.-Gen. Belkhir El Farouk from Morocco joins chiefs of staff and commanders from 25 countries for a military conference.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

For the first time in history, Inspector General of the Moroccan Armed Forces, Lt.-Gen. Belkhir El Farouk arrived in Israel, to participate in the IDF’s International Operational Innovation Conference.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi led an honor guard as El Farouk arrived on Tuesday.

Israel’s Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, Israel’s Minister of Justice Gideon Sa’ar, Issawi Frej, Israel’s Minister of Regional Cooperation, and IDF Chief of Staff Major General Aviv Kochavi were in Morocco for an official visit over the summer.

The IDF launched on Monday its first International Operational Innovation Conference, attended by nine Chiefs of Staff and commanders from 25 armies from all over the world who are in Israel to discuss topics of innovation and future challenges on the modern battlefield in the week-long event.

The US, Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Cyprus, Finland, Poland, Morocco, the Czech Republic, India, Holland, the UK, NATO, Slovakia, Hungary, Canada, and Australia all sent delegations.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Michael Kurilla arrived for the conference, together with some 200 commanders and about 1,500 personnel from around the world.

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Morocco was the fourth country to join the Abraham Accords with Israel. The two countries announced the normalization of relations in December 2020.

The United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain shortly after it, announced in August 2020 the normalization of relations with Israel.

Sudan was next to announce the normalization of relations with Israel in October, Israel’s third peace treaty in two months.

The Abraham Accords, the first pact between an Arab country and Israel in 25 years, is expected to lead to similar agreements with other Arab countries, possibly Oman or Saudi Arabia.