Weeks after relocating from its previous office on Palm Street in the Riyadh neighborhood of Rabat, the Israeli liaison office team made its official appearance this week at its new headquarters on Mehdi Ben Berka Street in the Souissi district. This new office is situated in an area known for hosting numerous embassies and foreign diplomatic missions, and it marks a return to a location where the Israeli liaison office previously operated during the period of official relations between Morocco and Israel that followed the signing of the Oslo peace agreement in the 1990s.
The building, a villa that has undergone extensive renovations over the past few weeks, witnessed what resembled an official opening ceremony on the morning of Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Several staff members arrived, coinciding with a heightened state of alert and a notable presence of public security forces, alongside private security personnel. Despite the presence of an Israeli flag on the interior of the building, it is largely concealed and difficult to notice from the outside. The Moroccan newspaper "Voice of Morocco" conducted a field verification, confirming the existence of the flag, which is discreetly hung at a low height, mimicking the half-mast position typically used during periods of national mourning following disasters or deaths.
Moreover, "Voice of Morocco" observed the significant security presence around the new Israeli liaison office on Thursday morning, August 13, 2026, noting the presence of a large vehicle carrying several public security personnel, along with a medium-sized vehicle and multiple uniformed officers along with others in civilian clothing stationed at the main entrance of the building. Numerous cameras have also been installed on the building's roof, visible from several meters away.
Despite what appeared to be the formal opening procedures conducted yesterday morning, some work is still ongoing in the surrounding area, particularly concerning the entrance renovations, which are being carried out under strict security supervision.
Morocco and Israel reopened their liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv following the announcement in December 2020 regarding the resumption of official relations under the Morocco-U.S.-Israel trilateral agreement. In August 2021, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid officially inaugurated the liaison office in Rabat, declaring that both countries were moving towards upgrading their representation and opening embassies within approximately two months. However, this has yet to materialize, and the official status of the two missions remains at the liaison office level, five years after that announcement.
The Rabat office had been closed in 2000 when Morocco froze its limited-level relations with Israel in the context of the outbreak of the Second Intifada, despite the establishment of liaison offices during the 1990s following the Oslo Accords.
As reported by thevoice.ma.
