On its Facebook page, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that a Moroccan delegation that includes engineers, movie directors, writers and businessmen is currently visiting the Jewish state. Members of the group will meet Israeli officials and visit a series of Islamic holy sites. While several bodies are fighting against normalization in a tumultuous atmosphere marked by a series of protests launched at the Gaza Strip, a Moroccan delegation is visiting Israel. In a Facebook post, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that 11 Moroccan nationals are currently in Jerusalem for a five-day visit. The delegation, which started its trip on Sunday 10th of June, includes «engineers, writers, movie directors and businessmen, who believe that communicating with their counterparts in Israel is important», explained «Israel Speaks Arabic», a Facebook page for the ministry. Preventing the delegation from visiting holy Islamic sites The Foreign Ministry did not mention the names of the delegation's members, but stressed that the visit would last for «five days during which they will meet members of the parliament in the Knesset as well as other officials, and visit research institutes, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust Yad Vashem and the North African Jewish Heritage Center». According to the same source, the Moroccan delegation will also visit a number of cities such as Haifa and Jerusalem and several holy Islamic sites. Commenting on the visit, Dawood Shehab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group, said in a tweet that it is a «stab in the back and a reward for murderers», urging Moroccans to «expose this delegation». لا للتطبيع .. وفد التطبيع الذي ينتسب للمغرب يبدأ اليوم زيارة لكيان العدو !! هذه الزيارة هي طعنة للشهداء ومكافأة للقاتل ، ولا تمثل المغرب الشقيق. دعوتنا لأشقائنا في المغرب لتعرية هذا الوفد وفضحه. ودعوتنا لأهلنا المقدسيين منع هذا الوفد من زيارة المسجد الأقصى أو أي معلم في القدس. — داود شهاب (@dawoodShehab) 10 juin 2018 He also called on Jerusalemites to «prevent the delegation from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites in Jerusalem». Israel is trying in various political ways to fight back boycott movements that target it. In this context, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has organized trips to Tel Aviv for the benefit of Arab journalists and intellectuals. It is not the first time that a Moroccan delegation visits the Hebrew state. A number of other groups in the past have been taken in similar visits by the Zionists entity despite the fight against normalization.
