Fury over Israeli citizenship listed on registration platform

The National Union of Moroccan Students and the Organisation of the Student Renaissance, a national organisation for all Moroccan students, have criticised the inclusion of Israeli citizenship on the official online platform for registering new students at Morocco’s Chouaib Doukkali University.

A video clip has shown how a student protest has coincided with a visit of Abdellatif Miraoui, the minister of higher education, scientific research and innovation, to the faculty of science at Chouaib Doukkali University on 10 September. A video also shows the website and its citizen options, which have set off the upheaval.

Dr Abdennasser Naji, the president of the Amaquen Institute, an education think tank in Morocco, told University World News: “Normally, all international students have the right to register in Moroccan universities, especially from countries with which Morocco has diplomatic relations, but, what it is not acceptable, is to allow student registration from a country accused of genocide and where even students are engaged in the army and could have been committing war crimes.”

According to Naji, Chouaib Doukkali University is aligning itself with the process to normalise Morocco-Israel academic relations.

The El Jadida branch office of the National Union of Moroccan Students, in French L’Union Nationale des Etudiants du Maroc, or UNEM, which is part of Morocco’s largest Islamic movement, Al Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Charity) issued a statement on 8 September to say it condemned Chouaib Doukkali University’s action.

Describing it as an “ill-considered move”, UNEM said it will continue to support the Palestinian cause and oppose the normalisation of relations between Moroccan and Israeli universities.

UNEM also called upon “the Chouaib Doukkali University to withdraw the citizenship option from the university’s website”.

Petition against normalisation

Following the normalisation of relations with Israel in December 2020, many Moroccan governmental sectors, including the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research signed memorandums of understanding with Israeli partners.

Also, several Morocco-Israel universities cooperation agreements were signed, including an August 2021 agreement between the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, the International University of Rabat and Ben Gurion University in November 2022, and three 2023 agreements between the Euro-Mediterranean University in Fez and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv University and the Shenkar University.

When Morocco resumed diplomatic ties with Israel in December 2020, it joined several others in the region: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, in addition to Egypt and Jordan, which had officially recognised Israel by signing peace agreements in 1979 and 1994 respectively.

But the normalisation of the diplomatic relationship between Morocco and Israel has remained contentious.

“Recent events in Gaza have halted normalisation efforts, which is consistent with the views of Moroccans. A small minority (13%) say they favour or strongly favour normalisation of relations between Arab countries and Israel. In comparison, in 2022, three in 10 people in Morocco said they favoured normalisation (31%),” stated the May 2024 Arab Barometer for Morocco.

“This decline [in the support for normalisation] is attributed to how the Arab world, including Morocco, views the ongoing war in Gaza,” stated a June 2024 article, ‘The War in Gaza Harms Israeli-Moroccan Normalisation’, published on the website of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

It also marks “a significant shift in Morocco, which previously had high levels of support for normalisation compared to other Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan”, according to the article.

Repeated efforts by University World News to contact the Israeli Liaison Office in Morocco to obtain insights about the normalisation process with Morocco have been unsuccessful.

The criticism against Chouaib Doukkali University come during a campaign launched by UNEM to receive new students for the 2024-25 academic year in all Moroccan universities, starting from the beginning of September until its end, under the slogan: ‘New students in Morocco support the Flood of Al-Aqsa’.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is the name Hamas has given to an operation aimed against Israel and, ultimately, for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital.

UNEM also issued a student petition to demand that Moroccan universities drop normalisation agreements.

The petition, which started in July, has been signed by about 5,000 people.

The petition called upon the Moroccan regime to “reverse the normalisation of relations with Israel signed in December 2020 and demand that the supervising ministry and all universities involved cancel all partnership and cooperation agreements with universities and institutions affiliated with the Zionist entity”.

Also, on 7 September, the Morocco-based Organisation of the Student Renaissance in El Jadida issued a statement, saying: “We reject any form of academic and cultural normalisation, especially involving the Moroccan university and higher education institutions.

“We call upon Moroccan university students and student factions to defend the Moroccan university by engaging in a real reform process of the university’s educational, value and intellectual system …” the organisation said.

“We emphasise that the Palestinian cause is a central issue in the conscience of the Moroccan student, and that the struggle, fight, and sympathy for it is a religious and moral duty,” it added.

Chouaib Doukkali University’s communications office did not respond to enquiries about the matter.