Israel and Morocco’s Secret History

King Hassan II of Morocco is memorialized in several public spaces in Israel, including a monument in Petah Tikva, a boulevard in Kiryat Ekron, and a park in Ashdod.

Approximately 1 million Israelis, around 10% of the population, have at least partial origins in Morocco.

Jews of Moroccan descent form the second-largest ethnic or origin group in Israel, surpassed only by those from the former Soviet Union.

The presence of Jews in Morocco predates Islam and Arab conquest, stretching back over two millennia.

Tens of thousands of Sephardic Jews, known as the Megorashim, settled in Moroccan cities such as Fez, Tetouan, and Marrakech after being expelled from Spain in 1492 and later from Portugal.

Under the French protectorate from 1912 to 1956, colonial authorities often favored Jewish subjects in education and administration as a divide and rule tactic.

During the Vichy regime, anti-Semitic laws were implemented across French-controlled territories, including Morocco, restricting Jewish access to education, employment, and civil rights.

On the eve of World War II, Morocco was home to about 300,000 Jews, the largest Jewish community in the Arab-Muslim world.

Morocco was a prime focus for large-scale aliyah to Israel due to its old, vibrant Jewish community and its status under French colonial rule, which made it more accessible to European Zionist organizations.

In 1949, General Alphonse Juin, the highest French authority in Morocco, secretly agreed with Jacques Guerchouny, an envoy of the Jewish Agency, to open disguised emigration offices to move Moroccan Jews to Israel.

Operation Kadima facilitated the aliyah of roughly 60,000 to 90,000 Moroccan Jews, which was about one-third of Morocco's pre-war Jewish population.

Operation Mural, a prelude to mass evacuation, recruited 530 Jewish children under the guise of a Swiss charity for a holiday summer camp, then transferred them to Israel without their parents' return.

According to Stephen Smith and Ronen Bergman's October 2025 investigation, King Hassan II allowed Israeli operatives into Morocco in September 1965, leading to intelligence sharing that contributed to Israel's 1967 victory.

The US Congress, led by Democrat Stephen Solarz, blocked American weaponry sales to Morocco in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to Morocco's war in the Western Sahara.