For Israeli Defense Minister Lt. Gen. (Res.) Benny Gantz, the height of his historic visit to Morocco this week was a tour of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces base housing the First Infantry Airborne Brigade. It took him back some 40 years to one of his first military postings as commander of the vaunted Israeli Paratroopers Brigade, whose maroon beret he sported on his epaulets to the top post of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Moroccans welcomed Gantz at the base with great honors, and he himself did not hide his emotions.
An associate of Gantz quoted on condition of anonymity what the minister wrote in the Moroccan unit’s visitors’ log, “Once a paratrooper, always a paratrooper,” adding, “As a former commander of the Israeli Paratroopers Brigade and IDF’s chief of staff, it is a personal honor to visit the First Infantry Airborne Brigade of the Royal Armed Forces. Today we ‘leap together,’ united in our mission to advance a common vision of peace and security for our nations, the region, the world.”
Gantz’s use of the words “leap together,” echoing the rallying cry for paratroopers the world over as they take their step out the plane’s door, is a fitting analogy for his two-day visit to Morocco. He was the first Israeli defense minister to ever pay a public visit to the country and publicly sign a defense cooperation agreement with an Arab Muslim state. Several Arab and Muslim states have maintained over the years security ties and some forms of cooperation with Israel, but almost always in secret. This week, in Morocco, the relationship was out in the open with full fanfare, echoing the normalization agreement reached between the two countries just over a year ago. It was clearly a diplomatic statement, but also a security one.
No, the Moroccans have not converted to Zionism, but they have apparently realized that ties with Jerusalem are key to the success of the battle over the Western Sahara and to preserving US recognition of their sovereignty over that disputed territory, as declared by former President Donald Trump in return for full Moroccan diplomatic relations with Israel. Gantz’s visit highlighted not only ties with Jerusalem, Israel’s official capital, but also ties with Tel Aviv, Israel’s main defense hub.
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