Israeli army chief set to visit Morocco for 1st official trip

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli army Chief of Staff, Aviv Kochavi, is expected to arrive in Morocco on Monday for a three-day official visit, according to the military.

The visit will be the first by Kochavi to the North African nation since Tel Aviv and Rabat signed a US-sponsored agreement to resume their relations in 2020.

A military statement said the visit comes within efforts to strengthen military and security cooperation between Israel and Morocco.

“One of the subjects that will be discussed (in Morocco) this week will be knowledge-sharing, training — the ability to train together in joint maneuvers — weapons development, the transfer of know-how and perhaps also of weaponry,” military spokesman Brig.-General Ran Kochav had told Ynet TV.

Kochavi is expected to meet senior military officials during his visit to Morocco.

There was no comment from Moroccan authorities on the visit.

Last month, Israeli military officials participated as observers in a major military drill in Morocco, which saw the participation of troops from the US, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Chad, Brazil, the United Kingdom and others.

In November of last year, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited Morocco where he signed a memorandum of understanding with his Moroccan counterpart to allow defense and military cooperation between the defense establishments in the two countries.

Morocco was the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel in 2020 after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, in a move decried by Palestinians as a “stab in the back.”

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat