A video circulating since Friday on Moroccan and Arab social media shows a woman waving an Israeli flag near the border between Morocco and Algeria, close to the city of Saidia. From the Algerian side, several dozen meters away, a Palestinian flag was raised in response. The incident sparked widespread reactions online and in Moroccan media, including harsh condemnations of Israel. The woman was part of an organized tour group that traveled from Israel.
Israeli flag raised at the Morocco-Algeria border
The Berkane branch of the Moroccan Front for Supporting Palestine and Opposing Normalization with Israel was among the first to condemn the incident. The group issued a statement expressing its “firm rejection” of the act, calling it “an affront to Moroccan feelings and to the national consensus rejecting normalization.” The group claimed the behavior reflected “the racist nature of Israel and its ongoing efforts to sow division and tension among peoples.”
One pro-Palestinian activist in Morocco, Fathi Abd al-Samad, wrote on X: “This is a shameful scene of Zionists stepping on Moroccan soil and standing at the border with our brothers and sisters in Algeria, raising the Israeli flag over our sacred land and waving it provocatively and offensively toward Algerians. This is a disgrace to our proud Moroccan people, who remain loyal to Palestine and steadfast in rejecting normalization.”
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Israeli and Moroccan flags displayed side by side near the Algerian border
(Photo: Abraham Yechiel Avizemer)
While Abd al-Samad strongly condemned Israel, he appeared to ignore the longstanding tension between Algeria and Morocco, which formally severed relations in 2021 over what Algiers described as “hostile actions” by Rabat.
One of the central sources of friction between the two countries is the Western Sahara dispute. Morocco claims sovereignty over the disputed desert territory along the Atlantic coast, while Algeria supports independence for Western Sahara and backs the Polisario Front, which leads the struggle against Moroccan control. Other online commentators also condemned the Israeli flag display, portraying the incident in a sharply negative light that differed from the account given to Ynet by Abraham Avizemer, the Israeli guide who led the tour.
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The tour group. ‘Attitudes toward Israel have changed following the war in Gaza’
(Photo: Abraham Yechiel Avizemer)
Avizemer, who regularly organizes trips to Morocco and has continued doing so throughout the war, said the incident occurred during the current tour he is guiding, which includes 22 tour guides themselves. “On our way to spend Shabbat in Fez, we passed near the border with Algeria. There is no longer a crossing, but it is the closest point between Morocco and Algeria, maybe 50 meters between the Moroccan and Algerian fences,” he said. “This was my 453rd trip guiding in Morocco.”
He added that he was not troubled by the negative coverage, particularly from the Algerian side. “On the Moroccan side, reactions are relatively balanced. Some support us and some do not, especially supporters of the Islamist party in Morocco. In my view, about 60% of the responses are positive and 40% are negative,” he said. “We took out the Israeli flag and the Moroccan flag, raised them, sang ‘Hatikvah’ and sang the Moroccan national anthem. Many Moroccans gathered and filmed us, and they are probably the ones who uploaded the video.”
According to Avizemer, the flag display was not planned. “It was not my initiative or anyone else’s. After we raised the flag, the Algerian side raised Palestinian flags,” he said. “There are Moroccan reactions expressing support for Palestine. Since October 7, Moroccans are divided. If once 70% supported us and 30% opposed ties with Israel, now it is closer to 50-50 because of what happened in Gaza. In their view, we are committing genocide,” he said, adding that he has repeatedly told Moroccan media that “there has been no genocide.”
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An AI-generated image circulated online following the incident at the Morocco-Algeria border
Avizemer said the woman seen in the video was one of the tour participants. “She took the Israeli flag and ran with it. When they raised the Palestinian flags, she ran toward them to show the Israeli flag,” he said. “But all the Moroccans who were there just applauded. They did not ask why we were raising the Israeli flag or singing the Israeli anthem. Not at all.” He added that the group even sang ‘Hatikvah’ at a nightclub during the trip. “The people reacting online now are not necessarily Moroccans. Algerians show strong hostility toward the ties between Israel and Morocco,” he said.
Asked whether there is any concern about raising the Israeli flag in Morocco at this time, Avizemer replied: “None at all. Everywhere we have raised the Israeli flag in Morocco, nothing happened. Only on this drive.”
He noted that earlier in the same trip, the group raised the Israeli flag in Al Hoceima in northern Morocco and held a memorial ceremony for the victims of the immigrant ship ‘Egoz,’ which sank in 1961 while smuggling Jews from Morocco to Israel, killing all 45 passengers.
“Twice on this trip we raised the flag. We are welcomed everywhere, whether in hotels or at tourist sites,” he said.