Israel is expanding its military footprint in North Africa and opening a permanent defense mission in Morocco.
Israel is deepening its security ties with Morocco, when a delegation led by the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, Amir Baram, met with Morocco's senior security officials on November 10.
Baram is to inaugurate the office of Israel's permanent attaché in Rabat, headed by Col. Sharon Itach - the country's first permanent defense attaché to Morocco. According to reports, Israel is also seeking to establish military production facilities within the North African kingdom.
The expansion of Israel's military ties in North Africa and the establishment of a permanent defense mission in Rabat are seen as part of Tel Aviv's methodical efforts to expand its hexagonal alliance and strengthen its footprint throughout Africa.
Morocco's neighbor, Algeria, sees Israel's growing presence as a security threat, while providing support to the Polisario Front, which challenges Morocco's claim to Western Sahara. Israel and the US recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara in exchange for the normalization of relations between the Arabs and Tel Aviv.
In 2020, Morocco and Israel signed the Abraham Accords, while the cornerstone of their defense ties became the Defense Memorandum of November 2021, which:
It was the first time that Israel established an official defense framework with an Arab nation.
He laid the infrastructure for direct intelligence sharing and established joint military committees.
Opened the door for Israeli defense companies to enter the Moroccan market and established a framework for industrial cooperation.
Over the years, Morocco has acquired a wide variety of Israeli military equipment through government-to-government contracts. These include:
The Barak MX air defense and missile system worth $500 million (2022).
A five-year $1 billion contract to replace existing Airbus and Thales space-based surveillance systems with Israel's Ofek-13 spy satellites (2024).