Israel appoints ambassador to Morocco

Israel’s Foreign Ministry yesterday announced the appointment of its charge d’affaires in Morocco as the country’s permanent ambassador to the North African kingdom, which resumed full diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv last year. Rabat followed in the footsteps of the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan in normalising relations as part of the Abraham Accords.

According to the Times of Israel, David Govrin who served as an Israeli diplomat since 1989 and has been in charge of the diplomatic mission in Rabat for the past two months, will now run the fully upgraded embassy.

A fluent Arabic speaker, he has previously served as envoy to Egypt from 2016 until August last year.

US: Blinken to meet Israeli, UAE counterparts next week to discuss normalisation

During his first official visit to Morocco in August, Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid inaugurated Israel’s liaison office in Rabat. According to Lapid, a Moroccan embassy in Tel Aviv is expected to be opened either this month or in early November overseen by Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

Before resuming diplomatic ties with Israel, Morocco had maintained informal ties with Tel Aviv and unlike most other Arab states, allowed Israeli tourists to visit the country. Morocco’s decision to normalise relations with Israel was reportedly part of an agreement with the US administration of former President Donald Trump, whereby Washington would recognise Morocco’s territorial claims over the disputed Western Sahara. Morocco is the second North African country, after Egypt, to recognise Israel.

READ: Israel claims Oman could be next to normalise ties