Israel, Morocco seal parliamentary deals

The speaker of the Israeli Knesset and his Moroccan counterpart signed parliamentary agreements after their meeting in Rabat Thursday.

The content of the agreements was not immediately clear. 

Amir Ohana's invitation to Morocco is the first to be extended to the speaker of the Israeli parliament by a Muslim country.

Ohana was also expected to meet with senior Moroccan officials and the leaders of the local Jewish community.

Demonstrators gather outside the Moroccan parliament in Rabat to protest against the visit of Ohana. 

The protestors at the rally organized by the Moroccan Front in support of Palestine waved Palestinian flags and held placards critical of Israel.

"We cannot accept that the head of the Israeli Parliament can come here with total impunity, even though the Israeli Parliament is currently an extreme right-wing parliament, dominated by fascists, and is coming here to be received by the Moroccan Parliament. So we're here as the Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine and against normalisation, to protest against normalisation in general and against this outcome of normalisation, which is normalisation between the Moroccan Parliament and the Zionist Parliament," said Abdelhamid Amine, member of the Moroccan Front in support of Palestine and against normalisation.

Israel and Morocco resumed their diplomatic relations in December 2020 after they were suspended in 2000 following the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada.

Morocco became the fourth Arab country to normalize ties with Israel in 2020 after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.