Algerian President: We regret Morocco’s agreement with ‘Israel’

Algeria (QNN)- Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a statement on Friday that he regrets Morocco’s agreement with the occupation state of ‘Israel’, stressing that the threat of Algeria from Morocco is a disgrace and has not occurred since 1948.

“Morocco’s threats against Algeria are an absolute disgrace, as there has not been such a thing since 1948,” Russia’s RT Arabic television news network quoted Tebboune as telling reporters in Algiers on Friday evening.

He added, “We will attack anyone who dares to attack us; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”.

A top Algerian official said on Thursday that Israel’s War Minister visit to Morocco had “targeted” his country.

“The enemies are mobilizing more and more to undermine Algeria,” Senate president Salah Goudjil said in a statement.

The Israeli occupation Defense Ministry announced the signing of a defense memorandum of understanding with Morocco on Wednesday, paving the way for military sales and cooperation between them.

A source familiar with the memorandum said that it did not contain specific defence agreements but provided a legal and regulatory framework for such agreements in the future.

Morocco is the fourth Arab country to normalize ties with the occupation state under the Abraham Accords, a pact brokered by the United States, after the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan normalized the ties.

Rabat agreed to re-establish ties with the occupation state in return for the US’ recognition of its sovereignty over the Western Sahara.

Palestinian officials condemned the normalization agreements, saying they encouraged Israel’s denial of their rights and do not serve the Palestinian cause.

On Sept. 20, Tebboune said Algeria will never be part of an agreement to normalise relations with ‘Israel’.

“The Palestinian issue is sacred for us and it is the mother of all issues and will not be resolved except by establishing a Palestinian state, with the 1967 borders, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.

In January, the Algerian lawmaker, Amira Selim, announced in a social media post that she intends to submit a bill to parliament seeking to criminalize “the promotion of normalization with the Zionist entity.”

In a message posted to her Facebook page, Amira Selim said that the bill aims to “prevent the promotion of normalization with the Zionist entity through mass media and social media, to the National People’s Assembly [Parliament].

“This law is based on the positions of the Algerian state that rejects normalization with the Zionist entity, especially since normalization seriously affected the issue of Western Sahara through political bargaining, with commercial justifications and suspicious deals,” she said.

With the law, an offender could be “punished by imprisonment from three to 10 years,” and may have their professional accreditations rescinded as a punitive measure.

Offenders may also be subject to a fine ranging from 300,000 to one million dinars ($2,273 to $7,619).

“The penalty can be extended to 15 years and the fine doubled in the event of a repeat offense,” Selim noted.