“The rise of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel has alarmed Jews worldwide, including in Morocco,” reported news outlet Israel Hayom. “The local community has had to endure anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment and even statements by the country’s leaders.”
During his party’s conference on November 19, Abdelilah Benkiran, the Secretary General of Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD), referred to the Jews as “idiots,” according to the outlet.
Benkiran also stated that while some Jews, like Albert Einstein, were intelligent, most had “short-term vision.” Benkirane claimed that although the Jews were initially chosen by God, they were later cursed and degraded among the nations for 2000 years.
Israel Hayom reported that, in the past, Moroccan authorities have taken action against incitement to antisemitism. It also cited an example of a Salafi imam from Marrakesh who was punished by the authorities for inciting hate against Jews in 2016 and was banned from running in the elections.
The news outlet also highlighted Moroccan journalist Chama Darchoul’s statement that Jews have “colonial ambitions” in the kingdom, which she claimed endangered the Moroccan Jewish community. Darchoul also called on Arab nations to refrain from discussing normalization.
Additionally, Nabila Mounib, the secretary general of the Unified Socialist Party, accused an 80-year-old Moroccan Jew named Guy Der’i of being “a Zionist infiltrator in the Moroccan government,” despite his many years of service in the government.
Mounib claimed that most descendants of Moroccan Jews “participated in a war against our brethren in Palestine, slaughtered many of them.” She argued that this was not a Jewish act, but a Zionist one, and described Zionism as an extremist and dangerous ideology.