This week, something amazing happened in North Africa: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi made an official, public visit to Morocco. Kochavi, like Defense Minister Benny Gantz and the IDF delegation that preceded him, was warming welcomed by the Arab state, embraced both physically and metaphorically. It's only been a year and a half since Morocco joined the Abraham Accords and announced its public ties with Israel.
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But the partnership isn't linked to the economic and civilian sectors, there is also a keen appetite to strengthen defense ties – joint drills, sales of weapons systems, and possibly even allowing Morocco to manufacture Israeli weapons systems, all things that two years ago would have been inconceivable, are now on the table.
In a historic development that cannot be underestimated, the IDF has become a major tool in building peace. From an army whose original purpose was to battle Arab armies when necessary, it is now playing a key part in bolstering relations with them. This change demands that the IDF change its mindset, says one diplomatic official who is deeply involved in these developing contacts.
In this new relationship, the IDF is receiving as well as giving. In Morocco, our forces are learning how to cooperate with other militaries. The main concept of the IDF is to "defend ourselves, by ourselves," but Morocco, which has a large, advanced western army, has developed close ties with NATO, the US military, and other armed forces. The IDF intends to study the Moroccans to learn how to learn from others.
Theirs is also the operational area, in which Kochavi's subordinates can learn from his Moroccan counterpart Lt. Gen. Belkhir El-Farouk, Morocco has to deal with attack drones, jihadist terrorist organizations, and some of the world's most advanced Russian and Chinese weapons systems. These threats usually stem from Algeria, which in recent years has been in conflict with Morocco along their long shared border – in part because of Algeria's objection to Morocco's relations with Jerusalem.
So as Morocco turns toward the West, its neighbor and rival is reaching out to the east. Algeria has acquired T-90 tanks, hypersonic missiles from Russia and China; and SM anti-aircraft systems, the most sophisticated of which is the S400, which Russia uses in Syria.
IDF delegations will soon be heading to the Morocco-Algerian border to learn what the Moroccans know about innovative new weapons and take their new understanding back to Israel to be implemented. This is one of the immediate benefits of the romance between the IDF and an Arab army, something that until not too long ago we couldn't have imagined writing.
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