Fifteen months after the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel, this Sunday, a plane took off from Casablanca bound for Tel Aviv.
A Royal Air Maroc (RAM) plane took off on Sunday from the economic capital of Casablanca for Tel Aviv, according to an airport source. After a three-month delay due to the health crisis, the Moroccan national company’s plane departed on Sunday at 9:00 GMT, the source said. “Casablanca/Tel Aviv for 400 euros. Who could believe that?” David Govrin, head of the Israel Liaison Office in Morocco, tweeted.
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This flight, scheduled for December 12 but postponed due to Covid, marks a new phase of bilateral rapprochement. According to media reports, a delegation of Moroccan entrepreneurs boarded the plane. Four weekly flights are scheduled between Mohammed V airports in Casablanca and Ben Gurion airports in Tel Aviv.
Morocco expects 200,000 Israeli visitors
Morocco is expecting a surprise influx of 200,000 Israeli visitors annually (50,000 in 2021) thanks to these direct flights between the two countries. “This new connection meets the expectations of the Moroccan community settled in Israel, which maintains close ties with their country of origin,” RAM explained in a press release.
In Casablanca, a billboard in recent days has boasted of a direct link to Tel Aviv. “It’s nice to see a big advertisement on the wall in Casablanca for the first Royal Air Maroc flight to Tel Aviv,” wrote David Govrin on Twitter. “I invite our Moroccan brothers to visit Israel, get to know its culture and defend the great place that Morocco and Moroccans hold in the hearts of Israelis,” he added.
Morocco’s Jewish community is the largest in North Africa, and the estimated 700,000 Israelis of Moroccan origin often maintain very close ties to their country of origin.