Protesters want Morocco to sever ties with Israel, so they're targeting strategic ports

TANGIER, Morocco — More than a year of protests over Morocco's decision to normalize ties with Israel has emboldened activists and widened a gap between the decisions of the government and the sentiments of the governed. The fury has spilled into the country's strategic ports.

Amid shipping cranes and stacked containers, 34-year-old agricultural engineer Ismail Lghazaoui marched recently through a sea of Palestinian flags and joined protesters carrying signs that read ''Reject the ship,'' in reference to a vessel transporting fighter jet components from Houston, Texas.

Activists are urging Moroccan port officials to try to block ships carrying military cargo to Israel, much like Spain did last year. Protests often target Danish shipping company Maersk, which helps transport components used to make Lockheed Martin's F-35 as part of the U.S. Defense Department's Security Cooperative Participant Program that facilitates weapons sales to allies including Israel.

A similar boycott campaign landed Lghazaoui in prison last year, but that didn't deter him from turning out again for resurgent protests last month, after his release. Lghazaoui is one of more than a dozen activists pursued by Moroccan authorities for criticizing the government's ties with Israel.

During a rally in November in Casablanca where Lghazaoui spoke, plainclothes officers beat him and others to prevent them from advancing toward the U.S. Consulate, he said. He later posted about Maersk on social media and was arrested and charged with incitement. He spent four months in prison, from November to February.

''They try to silence people,'' Lghazaoui told The Associated Press. ''They were using me to dissuade people or to push people away from what they were doing.''

A push to topple 'normalization'

Morocco is one of four Arab states that normalized ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords brokered in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term.

The deal delivered something Moroccan diplomats had chased for years: U.S. support for Morocco's claims over the disputed Western Sahara. But its cost — growing public resentment toward normalization — has ballooned throughout the Israel-Hamas war.

''I've rarely seen such a chasm between public opinion and the monarchy. What the power elites are doing goes completely against what the Moroccan people want,'' said Aboubakr Jamai, dean of the Madrid Center at the American College of the Mediterranean.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Morocco since the war began. While largely made up of families, students, Islamists, leftists and union members, the protests have also drawn more radical voices. Some have burned Israeli flags or chanted against royal adviser André Azoulay, a Jewish Moroccan.

Clad in riot gear, security forces have stood by and watched as protesters denounce ''normalization'' and Morocco's expanding trade and military ties with Israel.

But authorities have shown that their tolerance for dissent only goes so far.

Morocco's constitution generally allows for freedom of expression, although it is illegal to criticize the monarchy or King Mohammed VI and those who do can face prosecution. Throughout the war, activists who have implicated the monarchy on social media or protested businesses targeted by boycotts due to their operations in Israel have received prison sentences.

The constraints mirror Egypt and Jordan, which like Morocco have publicly sympathized with the Palestinians, maintained ties with Israel and imprisoned activists who direct their ire toward the government.

However, unlike in those countries, the arrests in Morocco have done little to quell public anger or activists' demands.

A harbor draws heat

In recent weeks, protesters have set their sights on a new target: the country's strategic ports and the companies using them to move military cargo. Activists and port workers recently demanded that two vessels crossing the Atlantic carrying fighter jet parts that they suspected would end up in Israel be blocked from docking in Morocco.

Port protests gained momentum last month when Morocco's largest labor union backed the call to block the two ships, and dozens of religious scholars and preachers, many affiliated with the anti-monarchy Islamist movement Al Adl wal Ihsan, issued an edict with a similar message.

While not officially allowed to participate in politics, Al Adl wal Ihsan has mobilized large crowds and helped lead pro-Palestinian activism throughout the Israel-Hamas war, drawing in young people who feel official parties don't speak to them. On a recent Friday, the group said Moroccans took part in 110 demonstrations across 66 cities in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Both Al Adl wal Ihsan and union members marched portside in Tangier and Casablanca, where the vessels eventually docked April 20.

In a statement, Maersk acknowledged that ships that passed through the two Moroccan ports carried parts used in the fighter jet. But it denied activists' claims of directly shipping weapons to conflict zones, stating that they require end-use certificates to verify the final destination of military cargo.

A port official in Tangier who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on the matter said that while cargo docked and unloaded in Morocco undergoes examination, ships docking en route to other destinations do not.

The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the shipments. F-35s are typically assembled in the United States, using components sourced throughout the world, including outer wings and display systems manufactured in Israel.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry did not respond to questions about normalization or its port policies, though diplomats have previously argued that relations with Israel allow them to press for a two-state solution and facilitate aid delivery to Gaza.

Domestic fault lines exposed

Some observers in Morocco have questioned whether the focus on Gaza has diverted attention from pressing domestic struggles. Voices from Moroccan nationalist circles on social media have instead highlighted the marginalization of the Indigenous Amazigh population and the dispute over Western Sahara, which they argue are more central to national identity and sovereignty.

For others, the prolonged war has prompted clear shifts. The Islamist Justice and Development Party, which once backed normalization with Israel while in power, recently invited senior Hamas officials to its congress in Rabat. However, the officials were unable to obtain visas to enter Morocco.

''Palestine will remain our primary cause,'' said Abdelilah Benkirane, a former prime minister and general secretary of the Justice and Development Party.