NEW YORK – The Moroccan Ambassador told the UN on Thursday that his people have never suffered persecution, shining over some historical tensions, a week after Rabat decided to normalize relations with Israel.
“We are very proud that the persecution of Jewish people has never happened in the history of Morocco. They were just… part of our society, ”said Omar Hilale at the Hanukkah candlelight ceremony in New York hosted by the UN Israeli Mission and the Forum for Cultural Diplomacy.
Morocco is home to the largest Jewish community in North Africa, which has existed for centuries and flourished with the arrival of Spanish Catholic kings under suspicion from 1492.
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The Moroccan Jewish population reached about 250,000 people in the late 1940s, making up 10 percent of the national population. But most left after the creation of Israel in 1948, many fleeing local enemies aimed at them over the establishment of the Jewish state. There are still about 3,000 people in Morocco today.
Much of the community left a mark last Thursday with U.S. President Donald Trump announcing that Morocco had agreed to re-establish its diplomatic relations with Israel, as Washington acknowledged Rabat’s sovereignty over the Sahara’s contested region. West.
But Hilale said taking part in the holiday service hosted by his Israeli colleague Gilad Erdan “should not be seen as a surprise or an astonishing image.”
Moroccan Jew observes Sukkot holiday at synagogue in Jewish quarter of Marrakesh, Morocco, 13 October 2017. (Fadel Senna / AFP)
Hilale found the government’s close ties with the Moroccan Jewish minority, especially during the Holocaust “when Europeans were deported to concentration camps.”
“We are very pleased to put another mark on Morocco’s commitment to what Hanukkah represents – the end of darkness … the beginning of light,” said Hilale.
Erdan said at the ceremony that the latest constitutional agreement “fulfills the dream of many Israelis of Moroccan heritage who are still proud of their roots and who have a great love for the country.”
“By embracing our differences rather than seeing them as a threat, we have created incredible new opportunities for the future,” Erdan said.
“If you had told me just a few months ago that I would be lighting Hanukkah candles with my friends from the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, I would have said, ‘impossible.’ But here we are sending a message of hope. to the youth of our region that anything is possible, ”said Erdan, citing three of the five countries that have formed normal relations with Israel in recent months, along with Sudan and Bhutan.
The Hanukkah event included meaningful messages from Emirati and Bahraini ambassadors, along with UN messages for the US, India, Australia, Albania, Guatemala and Rwanda.
