King Mohammed VI has authorized on 13th July, 2022 a reorganization of the Jewish community in Morocco, described as a « component » of the Moroccan national culture, during a council of ministers that he exceptionally chaired at the Royal Palace in Rabat.
According to the Moroccan official press agency (MAP), during this council, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit presented to the Moroccan monarch new measures concerning the organization of the Moroccan Jewish community.
These measures « elaborated, in application of the high royal instructions come to consecrate the Hebrew tributary as a component of the Moroccan culture rich in its multiple tributaries », according to the statement published by (MAP).
It is worth mentioning that Morocco’s Jewish community, estimated at 3,000 people now, remains the largest diaspora in North Africa, despite a massive departure to Israel after the genesis of the Jewish state in 1948. Dwelling in Morocco since antiquity, and widened due to 15th century by the expulsion of Jews from Spain, this community reached 250.000 people at the end of the 1940s.
The approximately 700.000 Israelis of Moroccan origins have often maintained very strong ties with their country of origin.
The new provisions were developed following consultations with representatives and figures of the Jewish community, according to the royal statement published by (MAP).
On the basis of these provisions, it is decided:
- The establishment of a National Council of the Moroccan Jewish Community, in charge of « the management of the affairs of the community and the safeguarding of the cultural and religious heritage and influence of Judaism and its authentic Moroccan values »;
- The creation of a Commission of Moroccan Jews Abroad which « aims to consolidate the ties of Moroccan Jews established abroad with their country of origin, to strengthen their religious and cultural influence and to defend the supreme interests of the Kingdom ».
The new organization of Moroccan Jews comes at a time when the rapprochement between the Moroccan kingdom and the Hebrew state continues at an accelerated pace.
