Moroccan royal carrier launches direct commercial flights to Israel

Morocco's national carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and El Al Israeli Airlines signed a Code Share agreement in Tel Aviv on Monday, following RAM's inaugural direct flight between Casablanca and the Israeli capital a day prior.

"This ceremony, organized on the sidelines of Royal Air Maroc's inaugural flight between Casablanca and Tel Aviv, was chaired by Hamid Addou, Chairman and CEO of the Moroccan Company and Avigal Soreq, CEO of the Israeli company," said a press statement shared by the state-owned official news agency Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).

The agreement will facilitate more options for the two companies' passengers in terms of timetables and combinability between the two countries.

Israeli airlines Israir and El Al launched direct commercial flights from Tel Aviv to the Moroccan touristic capital Marrakech last year. Meanwhile, RAM has decided to delay its December-scheduled launch due to the pandemic travel restrictions in Morocco.

The first Royal Air Maroc 🇲🇦 plane arrived in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, coming from #Casablanca, with a Moroccan economic delegation on board. #Morocco #Israel #Africa pic.twitter.com/JtzjpbKs70

— Southern Africa Eye (@eye_southern) March 13, 2022

After three months of delay, the Kingdom's largest airline RAM took off from Mohamed V airport in Casablanca on Sunday, heading to the Israeli capital, in the carrier's first direct flight to Israel since the two countries normalised ties in 2020.

The inaugural flight, which carried mostly Moroccan Jewish businessmen and media correspondents, was welcomed with a ceremony in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. 

Moroccan and Israeli officials hailed the flight as "a historical moment" that will "reconnect Moroccan Jews to their families in Israel."

The Kingdom is home to North Africa's largest Jewish community, estimated at 3,000. Some 700,000 Jews of Moroccan origin currently reside in Israel.

Rabat is counting on 200,000 visitors from Israel to revive its pandemic-hit tourism sector.

Advertisements of RAM's Tel Aviv commercial flights were unveiled across different cities in Morocco and Israel, an upsetting scene for many Moroccans who continue to protest normalisation with Israel.

A sign advertising flights to Morocco in Jerusalem. A sign of the times pic.twitter.com/08oqmY1lop

— Israel Gulf Report (@GulfIsrael) March 14, 2022

"You [RAM] are now complicit in the future crimes that this terrorist State will commit," said a Twitter user in French. While others called on boycotting the company.

On the other hand, a few Moroccans have vocalised their support for the new flights, justified as an opportunity to widen economic opportunities for Moroccans.

#المغرب_إسرائيل🇲🇦✍🇮🇱، وصول أول رحلة للخطوط الملكية المغربية إلى إسرائيل، لربط أواصر المحبة بأبناء وطننا اليهود المغاربة بإسراءيل، بعد إعادة العلاقات بين البلدين وتقويتها على عدة أصعدة منها السياسية الإقتصادية والإجتماعية والثقافية والسياحية، pic.twitter.com/3eEWaCfA99

— Amine Abdeljalil🇲🇦 (@abdeljali_amine) March 13, 2022

Unlike other Arab countries, Morocco has always allowed Israeli passport holders to enter the kingdom, because of the large Jewish Moroccan community living in Israel. 

In 2020, Morocco officially normalised ties with Israel in exchange for US recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

The Moroccan state sealed the deal as a "patriotic diplomatic step" that serves its interests in the Western Sahara conflict. Some Moroccans embrace this argument under the slogan of "our nation first".

Meanwhile, other Moroccans are protesting against "the newborn" Moroccan-Israeli friendship, arguing that national struggles cannot be won by befriending an apartheid state.