Zionism in Morocco
For many rural Moroccan Jews, in addition to economic reasons, the religious importance of the Land of Israel in their beliefs had a major role in their decision to emigrate.
[7] The Israeli historian Michael Laskier cites some early sources of Zionism in Moroccan coastal cities, which had more direct contact with Europe as well as populations of Jews who received a European education, especially through the Alliance Israélite Universelle: in Tetuan, where the Russian physician Dr.
[1] Safeguarding his politique musulmane, the French Résident Général Hubert Lyautey began monitoring Zionist activities and propaganda in Morocco, with the approval of the Allianciste Yaḥyā Zagury.
[5] High Commissioner General José Sanjurjo and Plenipotentiary Minister Diego Saavedra were supportive, citing Spain's connection with the Sephardic Jews.
[11][1] The French position against Zionism was not ideological (France supported the Balfour Declaration and the decisions made at the San Remo conference) as much as it was politically pragmatic due to pressure from the Muslim majority against the foreign propaganda.
[1] The Zionist press in Morocco was challenged by the AIU's L'Union Marocaine (1932–1940) and by Muhammad al-Kholti in the Moroccan nationalist newspaper L'Action du Peuple.
[13] Alliancistes, those affiliated with the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) and saw the future of Moroccan Jews best served by Westernization, Europeanization, and especially Gallicization (for Spain there was Hispano - Hebrea[1]), disagreed with Zionists, who favored leaving Morocco and abandoning the project of assimilation and adaption.
[7] The Moroccan nationalist movement, which espoused an Arab-Muslim vision of Morocco, resented both the assimilation of European values and culture of the Alliancistes as well as the project of the Zionists, siding with the Palestinians in their struggle against Jewish colonization and British rule.
[19] Based on their personal letters that were intercepted by the Israeli military postal censorship bureau, 70% of them wanted to return to their country of origin and warned their families not to come to Israel.
[19] In the late 1940s, international Zionist youth social and scouting movements, including Dror, Habonim, Bnei Akiva, Gordonia, Hashomer Hatzair, Betar, etc., sought to expand and gain new members.
[6] By this agreement, the French colonial administration would no longer interfere in the emigration of Jews from Morocco as it had been doing previously,[6] as long as it was done discretely and away from the attention of Sultan Muhammad V and the Moroccan nationalists.
[3] Cadima was based out of a main office in Casablanca and opened cells in large cities throughout Morocco, operating under the guise of providing social services and a library.
[18]: 164 It was based out of an office in Casablanca and operated cells in large cities as well as a transit camp along the road to al-Jadida, from which Jewish migrants would depart for Israel via Marseille.
[24] From mid-1951[25] to 1953, Cadima placed discriminatory restrictions on the migration of Moroccan Jews through the criteria of the seleqṣeya (Hebrew: סלקציה[26]) that included a strict medical examination and privileged healthy young people and families with a breadwinner.
The movement opposed to Zionism and in favor of a Muslim-Jewish coexistence, alliance, or entente in an independent Morocco reached its fullest expression in the early 1950s and culminating in the short-lived al-Wifaq (الوِفاق 'the agreement').
In response to an envoy of the World Jewish Congress in Morocco to negotiate for easing emigration policies in 1957, Marc Sabbah asked: "What right does this foreign organization have to speak on our behalf?
[3] Morocco joined the Arab League in 1958, and many saw the country gravitating toward the Pan-Arab, anti-Israel politics of Gamal Abdel Nasser and perceived it as inauspicious or threatening.
[3] In 1955, the Mossad, especially David Ben-Gurion and Isser Harel, established ha-Misgeret (המסגרת 'The Framework'), a clandestine, underground Zionist militia and organization in Morocco headed by Shlomo Havilio ('Louis') [he].
[27] An 'Ulpan' kindergarten for teaching Hebrew in Casablanca established in 1954 by Yehudit Galili [he], an envoy of the Jewish Agency, would serve as a hiding place for weapons of ha-Misgeret.
[27] In the 1950s, Zionism competed with the Moroccan nationalist movement for the membership of the rural Jewish populations in regions such as the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, and the pre-Saharan southern oases.
[20][2] According to Aomar Boum, the religious and historical significance of Jerusalem to the observant Jews of the southern oases of the pre-Saharan region was important in their decision to make Aliyah.
[3] In addition to newspapers, radio, books, and lectures, the Zionist movement in Morocco harnessed cinema as a medium of propaganda in order to reach an audience that was largely illiterate.
