A group of young professionals from Morocco arrived in Israel through the Shakara program despite threats and disapproval back home.
Youssef Elazhari, Shakara’s director in Morocco, recruited the travelers, mainly young people working for non-profits, and praised the participants for coming to Israel during the Gaza war despite pressure in Morocco.
“They had no fear,’ Elazhari said.
One of the travelers, who calls himself “Ali” said “He felt like he was in Miami” when visiting Tel Aviv and wished to conceal his name to avoid threats in his home country.
Ali also said one of his ambitions was to one day be the ambassador from Morocco to Israel.
Although Morocco normalized relations with Israel as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords, since October 7th and the ensuing war, many Moroccans have taken to the streets urging the government to rescind the normalization treaty.
