On June 1st, Morocco took a new step in the emergence of a domestic military industry. This development alarms Algeria, reflected in the launch of a disinformation campaign by an official media outlet aimed at discrediting Morocco's ambition, by claiming that Israel was going to set up a military base in the kingdom. On June 1, King Mohammed VI's Council of Ministers approved a draft decree establishing two defense industrial acceleration zones for companies producing defense and security equipment, weapons, and ammunition. In Algeria, this long-awaited decision, especially after the adoption in August 2020, of the legal framework related to the emergence of a domestic military industry, was met with a campaign of misinformation. The latter involves the self-proclaimed representative of the Polisario in Switzerland, Oubi Bachir, the representative in Algiers of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Nader Al-Kaissi, and a Moroccan opponent living in Spain, Badr El Aidoudi, a regular in Algerian media. Official Algerian broadcaster, Radio Algeria hosted the three anti-Morocco representatives to spread fake news. No Algerian participated in this fake news campaign In the same way, the three speakers ignored the content of the draft decree of June 1 to announce, without providing any evidence, that Morocco «has given the green light to the construction of a Zionist military base». Oubi Bachir from the Polisario went on to unveil the location of the supposed Israeli military base. «It will be located between Spanish Melilla and Algeria», he said. It is worth mentioning that the road distance separating Melilla from Tlemcen in Algeria, at the Moroccan border, is about 460 km. To support his claims, this Polisario member indicated that «Spanish media» had already addressed this topic. «Morocco is building, with Israel's help, a drone base 20 km from Melilla to control the Spanish city» announced, on May 12, El Economista. Interviewed by Radio Algerie, the Palestinian Al-Kaissi also claimed that «Morocco granted two military bases to the Zionist entity». He went on to condemn the «Moroccan regime's occupation of Sahrawi territories». «We support the Sahrawi people's struggle for their country's independence and approve their right to self-determination», he argued. He also called for removing the «presidency of the Al-Quds Committee from the Moroccan regime». The comments of Moroccan Badr El Aidoudi, a Moroccan living in Spain, were reported by Algerian newspaper Echoroukonline. El Aidoudi considers building an «Israeli military base between Melilla and Algeria» a provocation against Algiers. «Spanish media considered the announcement of the construction of this Zionist military base near Melilla to also constitute a direct threat to Spanish national security», he claimed. The creation of this misinformation operation did not involve any Algerian participants.
