Public opinion in Morocco has remained structurally and emotionally pro-Palestinian for decades, but since October 7, 2023, that position has crystallized into something deeper: a sustained moral economy of solidarity, expressed through weekly nationwide demonstrations, editorial lines across much of the press, and a popular consensus that distinguishes clearly between state-to-state diplomacy and ethical alignment.

This distinction matters. It is precisely within this gap that a peculiar political pathology has emerged: the figure of the Moroccan “pro-Israel missionary.”

These actors are not merely supportive of diplomatic normalization. They do not advocate pragmatic engagement, strategic restraint, or balanced foreign policy realism. Instead, they perform an almost evangelical defense of Israel – loud, obsessive, and conspicuously public – often framing themselves as brave dissenters against an allegedly dominant Arab orthodoxy.

In reality, they are neither dissenters nor strategists. They are opportunists operating within what political theorists would call a symbolic scarcity economy: a space where being “the Arab who supports Israel” is rare, visible, and therefore marketable.

Their calculation is simple. In a global hierarchy where Israel is perceived – rightly or wrongly – as possessing disproportionate symbolic, lobbying, and geopolitical weight in Washington, proximity to Israel is imagined as proximity to American power.

“Loving Israel” thus becomes a speculative investment, a shortcut around institutional merit, professional rigor, or genuine policy expertise. It is a politics of shortcuts, not convictions.

In this climate, some support for Tel Aviv/Jerusalem appears less about principle than about chasing personal gain, knowing full well that only a handful will compete in this race to ingratiate themselves, convinced that “loving Israel” is a shortcut to American favor.

Yet this posture fundamentally misunderstands both power and normalization.

Normalization, by........

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