“This is beyond normalization! Even Egypt didn’t go this far at Camp David!!”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz recently returned from Morocco where he met with his counterparts and signed an agreement for strengthening security ties between Israel and the North African country. The agreement allows Morocco to purchase Israeli air defense systems, military drones and other hi-tech equipment. Morocco also purchased machine guns, reconnaissance vehicles and observation systems from Israel.

The backdrop to these purchases is the increasing tension between Algeria and Morocco in a territorial dispute along the Western Sahara. Morocco needs weapons and, mostly, defensive weapons for border control and protection.

In December 2020, Morocco joined the Abraham Accords paving the way for full normalization with Israel. The border conflict and the aggressions of the Algerian regime encouraged and even accelerated the forming of ties between the two countries. Algeria, which has close ties with the Iranian government, is exercising a strong show of hostility towards Morocco. Algeria recently severed diplomatic ties with Morocco and even prevents Moroccan civilian aircraft from flying in Algerian airspace.