Khaled Meshaal, the former leader of the Hamas movement, urged the Moroccan people in a video that went viral on social media recently, to cut ties with the state of Israel and expel its representative in Rabat.
Meshaal claims in the video that ending relationships with Israel is a crucial aspect of supporting Palestinians, and he suggests that the U.S. and the West will not change their position without seeing tangible effects and a shift in the balance of power.
He calls for popular and mass action through marches, protests, and various forms of activism and emphasizes the need for financial and humanitarian support, both individual and collective, from individuals, institutions, and the state, by land and sea, beyond relying solely on the Rafah crossing.
Mentioning only Morocco by name specifically, Meshaal urges support through media engagement and winning public opinion against falsehoods.
“We seek political action from the nations, including Morocco, which has a historical responsibility towards Jerusalem.”
Meshaal’s sole focus on Morocco has led Moroccans to deplore being singled out to the exclusion of other countries with direct connections to Gaza and Israel. Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1978, for example, controls a vital land route in and out of the Gaza Strip—the Rafah crossing. At the beginning of the present Israel-Gaza conflict, a significant number of Palestinians waited on the Gaza side, while aid-laden trucks were queued on the Egyptian side.
Jordan also established ties with Israel in 1994 and initially blockaded the Allenby Bridge during the current Hamas-Israel war, preventing Palestinians from crossing.
Turkey, too, has played a role during the conflict by supplying goods to Israel, a point Meshaal does not address.
Notwithstanding his focus on Morocco, Meshaal urges the establishment of an alliance of Arabs, Muslims, and world nations, to form a political front to “say no” to Zionist aggression, uniting against Israel and transcending transnational differences.