Late Moroccan King Hassan II allied with Israel against Algeria during Western Sahara War

A striking article, compiled by Israeli investigative journalist Ronen Bergman has just been published highlighting the Israeli role in the 1965 disappearance and death of Moroccan dissident Mehdi Ben Barka at the behest of late Moroccan King Hassan II and the latter’s covert schemings against Algeria during the Western Sahara war.

Ronen Bergman’s detailed article was called “Secret History: How the Mossad became entangled in a political assassination.”

Bergman previously wrote about the Ben Barka affair back in 2012. The disappearance of Ben Barka from the streets of Paris was a scandal at the time. French investigations led to the jailing of a few French agents and the involvement of Moroccan intelligence services has long been established. Mossad’s role has long been rumored, but with few details known.

Ronen Bergman begins by discussing Mossad’s good relations with French intelligence dating from the days of the Algerian liberation war against the French colonial yoke, as well as their growing covert relations with Moroccan intelligence. They report that Morocco provided Israel with full details of the 1965 Arab Summit in Casablanca, and in return asked for Israeli help in locating the exiled Moroccan dissident, Mehdi Ben Barka.

He directly quotes from interviews he had with the Mossad chief at the time, Meir Amit, prior to his death in 2009. 

 
The Israelis helped the Moroccans locate Ben Barka, who traveled frequently, discovering he picked up mil from a kiosk in Geneva. This was conveyed to Moroccan Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Dlimi.

But for the Moroccans, Israel’s debt had not yet been paid. On October 1, 1965, they requested Mossad agents in Paris to rent them a hiding place and provide them with camouflage, makeup and fake passports. In addition, they wanted Israel to follow their target for them and advise them on how best to send Ben Barka to meet his maker.

According to the protocol of the meetings between Amit and [Israeli Prime Minister Levi] Eshkol, only on October 4 did Amit report to the prime minister about the Mossad’s deep involvement. Then came the less good tidings: “What do they want?” Eshkol asked. Amit continued: “A very simple thing: Deliver Mehdi Ben Barka. We found him in Paris and King Hassan II gave an order to kill him”.

Israel agreed to provide five foreign passports.

Four days went by. On October 8, Amit told Eshkol: “So far, all is well. We are able to hold on. We are ‘ducking’ the issue.”

But the Moroccans had no intention of “ducking” the issue. On October 12, Dlimi asked Israel for fake car license plates and a poisonous solution. Israel rejected the request for the license plates and suggested the use of rented cars, for which it would provide fake documentation. Dilmi also informed Israel that Oufkir had decided to postpone the operation until the end of October, but did not specify an exact date.

On October 13, 1965, Dlimi left France to return to Morocco, and Amit took this as a sign that the entire operation had been scrapped.

Besides Amit, the report also cites the work of Dr. Shlomo Ben-Nun, an expert on Israeli-Moroccan relations.

Dlimi and his agents, with the help of French police acting on their own, kidnapped Ben Barka as he arrived for a meeting at the famed Brasserie Lipp, They took him to an apartment on the outskirts ofn Paris and tortured him. The authors cite conflicting reports over whether the Moroccans asked Mossad for poison, but say the sources agree that Ben Barka died under torture. Mossad then assisted in disposing of the body in a forest outside Paris.

Charkes de Gaulle was furious at a kidnapping on the streets of Paris in broad daylight, and reportedly demanded that King Hasan II hand over Dlimi and his superior, Interior Minister Muhammad Oufkir. On November 5, Amit reportedly told Eshkol, “The Moroccans killed Ben Barka. Israel had no physical connection to the act itself.”

De Gaulle then threw Mossad’s European headquarters out of Paris.

Over the years, this secret channel between Morocco and Israel kept improving, and Israel remained active in supplying Morocco with weapons and intelligence, especially related to the Western Sahara conflict by hatching plots against Algeria.

As for Muhammad Oufkir, he was implicated in a plot to shoot down the Moroccan King’s plane in 1971, after which he committed suicide, or many believe “he was forced to commit suicide.” Ahmed Dlimi went on to become a major figure of the war against POLISARIO in Western Sahara, becoming the most powerful figure since Oufkir and perhaps considered a threat by the King himself. In 1983, after a meeting with King Hassan II, Dlimi was allegedly killed in a car accident, the “accidental” nature of which has been widely questioned.