Morocco evacuates Israeli diplomat

Pro-Palestinian protests forced the evacuation of an Israeli diplomat from Morocco.

David Saranga, Israel’s senior liaison to the European Parliament, traveled from Brussels to Rabat over the weekend for an international conference of lawmakers. But the event was overshadowed by a mass pro-Palestinian rally organized by Islamists opposed to Morocco’s monarchy, which has fostered low-key ties established with the Jewish state in 1994.

As tens of thousands of protesters converged on the parliament building in Rabat, Saranga was evacuated under guard Sunday out of concern he could be targeted for attack.

“There was a never-ending stream of people, with Palestinian flags in one hand and, in the other, Israeli flags with swastikas instead of Stars of David,” Saranga told Israel’s Army Radio in a telephone interview Monday.

Islamist leader Hassan Bennajeh said Sunday’s march came ahead of the annual Land Day demonstrations by Israeli Arabs against Jerusalem’s policies.

“Everybody knows that the Moroccan regime supports normalization with Israel and has helped thousands of Moroccan Jews to migrate to and populate Israel,” Bennajeh said, according to Reuters.