International news channel i24NEWS announced it had opened bureaus in Rabat and Casablanca Tuesday, the first Israel-based outlet to do so in Morocco, following the restoration of ties in 2020.
The channel, which broadcasts in Arabic, English and French from its headquarters in Israel's port city of Jaffa, already has a Dubai bureau opened after Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates the same year.
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i24NEWS founder Patrick Drahi (L) and CEO Frank Melloul at the bureau opening in Rabat
(Photo: i24NEWS)
"I believe that the launch of our bureaus in Morocco... will position i24NEWS as a leading player in the media and news market in the Maghreb and African countries," the channel's CEO Frank Melloul said in a statement.
Morocco restored relations with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal in 2020 that saw then president Donald Trump's administration recognize Rabat's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The agreement, and the similar deals signed by the UAE and Bahrain, broke with decades of Arab consensus that there should be no normalization of relations with Israel without a comprehensive peace accord with the Palestinians.
They drew an angry reaction from the Palestinians and their supporters across the Arab world.