Morocco's 'pro-Palestine' Justice and Development Party (PJD) says it fears Israel could target its headquarters in Rabat following its strike on Doha.
Speaking at a meeting of the party's leadership, Abdelilah Benkirane, head of the Islamist PJD, warned Saturday that "unprecedented threats" from Israel were no longer confined to Palestine but could extend to political institutions and even citizens across "the Arab world."
"We don't feel protected. I can't see anything stopping Israel from targeting us here [in our own headquarters]," Benkirane declared to a packed room of party members and press.
Morocco, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020, has adopted a cautious position on Israel's genocidal war on Gaza since its start almost two years ago.
While refraining from labelling it a genocide, Rabat has consistently called for a ceasefire and a two-state solution, arguing that its relationship with Tel Aviv allows it to play a more active role in peace negotiations.
After Israel's strike on Doha last week, which killed five Palestinians and a Qatari officer, Rabat issued a strongly worded statement condemning what it called "Israel's heinous aggression."
For Benkirane, the attack should serve as a wake-up call that Israel "will not spare anyone."
Can Israel target the Maghreb?
Across the region, the Doha strike undercut a long-standing assumption: that being useful to the United States guarantees protection.
But that was merely déjà vu in Tunis, where activists had been convinced since 1985 that Washington, sponsor of Tel Aviv's ravenous wars, sometimes lets it play the enfant gâté it is.
On 1 October 1985, the Israeli Air Force bombed the offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in Hammam Chott, a residential suburb of Tunis, killing more than 60 people.
Tunisia had long stood in solidarity with Palestine, though it maintained a Western-aligned foreign policy steeped in Cold War anti-communism. It seemed for the West like the perfect place to relocate the PLO while keeping an eye on them.
After the attack, President Habib Bourguiba, who had led Tunisia's independence from France, openly questioned what the country's loyalty to Washington had achieved if it could not prevent an Israeli strike on Tunisian soil.
And, just like after the Doha attack, Washington's response was a little "oopsie" of disappointment with Tel Aviv, without ever seriously holding Israel to account.
While the Maghreb has largely been spared from Israeli terror, thanks in part to its ties with Washington and its geographical and political distance from the Middle East, there have been exceptions.
Just last week, activists in the Sumud aid flotilla bound for Gaza reported two drone strikes in Tunisian waters, which they believe were orchestrated by Israel.
Algeria now stands out as the only country in the Maghreb hosting a Hamas office and representative. That, analysts say, could make it vulnerable.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog justified the Doha strike as necessary to "remove some of the people if they are not willing to get a deal" to end the war, a statement that suggested countries hosting Hamas representatives, including Algeria, could be at risk.
A report published on 10 September by Military Watch Magazine, a Seoul-based publication, examined the possibility of Israeli strikes on Algeria, though it noted that Algeria's air defence systems—sourced heavily from Russia and China—would make it far more difficult to attack than other Arab states.
As Arab and Muslim leaders prepare to convene in Doha today, Benkirane urged them to move beyond symbolic statements and adopt concrete measures, including cutting diplomatic ties
His remarks also reflect his party's shifting politics. The PJD was in government when Morocco signed the Abraham Accords, a move that cost it dearly at the polls in 2021.
Since then, Benkirane has sought to reposition the party as a fierce critic of normalisation.
With new elections approaching, the PJD is betting on that reversal to regain lost ground, even as its leaders have been largely unwelcome at the pro-Palestinian street protests that swept Morocco since the war began.
"Arab and Muslim rulers risk losing legitimacy if they cannot protect their populations. And people may begin to seek alternatives," Benkirane warned.