Although the government officially normalized its relations with Israel after signing the Abraham Accords at the end of 2020, the Moroccan people have categorically rejected the normalization process.
Last week on December 10, the Court of First Instance in Casablanca sentenced local member of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Ismail al-Ghazawi to one year in prison and fined him 5,000 Morrocan Dirhams (equal to around 500 US dollars) on charges of "inciting crime", due to participating in a pro-Palestinian protest.
Al-Ghazawi was arrested on October 25 and briefly detained by the National Judicial Police Brigade's political cases unit, while he was on his way to the US Consulate in Casablanca to take part in a protest condemning the US complicity in Israel's genocidal aggression on Gaza. In November 2024, Al-Ghazawi was summoned by the police in Casablanca and held in custody prior to appearing before the public prosecutor. On December 10, incidentally also International Human Rights Day, the court issued its final verdict, provoking the ire of BDS, political parties, and human rights organizations.
The BDS National Committee (BNC) condemned Al-Ghazawi's arrest saying that it "reflects attempts to muzzle free voices that call for ending the shameful normalization with the Israeli enemy, and stopping to support its war machine."
Meanwhile, BDS Maroc described the conviction of the pro-Palestinian activist as "a flagrant attack on freedom of expression and a shameful attempt to silence free voices in Morocco." It also considered it as a part of a wider "criminalization of the humanitarian duty to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people."
For its part, the Youth of the Worker's Democratic Way issued a statement on November 21, expressing its indignation of Al-Ghazawi's arrest and detention and condemning "the Makhzen's (the State or Government) oppression and repression against all activists and voices opposing normalization."
The Youth of the Worker's Democratic Way declared its full solidarity with Ismail Al-Ghazawi, and demanded his immediate and unconditional release. In addition, it called on all Moroccan youth "to escalate the struggle against normalization", stressing that "the Makhzen's repression of anti-normalization activities will not deter Moroccan youth from continuing their tireless, unified struggle in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance in all its forms, and rejecting the treacherous policy of normalization."
Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) emphasized that Al-Ghazawi's prison sentence "violates the Moroccan Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and peaceful protest, and contradicts Morocco's commitments to international human rights standards most notably Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
Morocco's repression of anti-normalization activists
Over the last few years, there has been a repeated crackdown on anti-normalization opponents by the Moroccan authorities, especially after the Moroccan government signed the Abraham Accords with Israel in December 2020.
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In August 2023, Moroccan activist Said Boukioud was sentenced to five years in prison over his posts on social media in which he denounced normalization with Israel. In April 2024, a member of the Moroccan Front for Support of Palestine and Against Normalization Abdul Rahman Azenkad, was also sentenced to five years in prison over denouncing normalization with Israel on social media networks.
The majority of Moroccan people have rejected their government's normalization with Israel. Popular support for normalization between the two countries has further declined among Moroccans since Israel's genocidal aggression on Gaza began. It dropped from 31% in 2022 to 13%, according to an Arab Barometer poll published in June.
