Netanyahu celebrates ties with Morocco: ‘This will be a very warm peace’

President Donald Trump announced Thursday afternoon the establishment of normalization between Morocco and Israel.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Israel and Morocco have agreed to a normalization, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday,

This is the fourth Arab-Israel agreement in four months, following Israel’s normalization of ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

“I’ve always believed that this historic day would come, I’ve always worked for it,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

“I want to first thank President Trump for his extraordinary efforts to expand peace, to bring peace to Israel and the peoples of the Middle East. President Trump, the people of Israel and the State of Israel will be forever indebted to you for your magnificent efforts on our behalf.

“I want to thank, too, the King of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, for taking this historic decision to bring a historic peace between us.

“The people of Morocco and the Jewish people have had a warm relationship in the modern period,” Netanyahu continued. “Everybody knows the tremendous friendship shown by the kings of Morocco and the people of Morocco to the Jewish community there. And hundreds of thousands of these Moroccan Jews came to Israel, and they form a human bridge between our two countries and our two peoples, of sympathy respect, of fondness and love. I think that this is the foundation on which we can now build this peace.”

The Israeli leader said that the two countries will resume liaison offices soon and work rapidly to establish full diplomatic relations, as well as institute direct flights between Morocco and Israel.

“This will be a very warm peace. Peace has never – the light of peace on this Hanukkah day has never – shone brighter than today in the Middle East.”

As part of the deal, the U.S. will recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

Israel-Morocco tiesIsraeli diplomacy