Suspension of Israel’s Observer Status in AU: A Setback For Its Diplomacy
The decision to suspend the Zionist entity’s membership as an observer in the African Union, although it was taken since a few days ago by the majority of AU countries, still creates controversy in the Hebrew state’s media, which described what happened last week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, as a “setback” and a resounding diplomatic defeat, considering what Israel has done to preserve its status.
Jackie Khoji, the editor of Arab affairs at the Israeli Army Radio, wrote an article in the Israeli newspaper “Maariv”, in which he explained the role of the Moroccan Makhzen regime in defending Tel Aviv’s preservation of its observer status in the African Union, but the attempt failed miserably.
Jackie Khoji said in the article, translated by Arabi 21 newspaper, that “Israel is an important country for the governments of the African continent, and the normalization agreements with African countries such as Chad and Sudan helped bring about the hoped-for change from the leaders of the continent, which prompted Moussa Faki, President of the African Union Council, who is the former foreign minister of Chad, to decide to annex Israel as an observer, along with three important countries: Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan, but last week witnessed an Israeli setback, by freezing its membership in the African Union”.
The Israeli writer spoke about the role played by Algeria in this setback, saying: “Algeria made a lot of efforts to get Israel out of the African Union, by mobilizing supporters of its expulsion such as South Africa and other countries, in exchange for countries that requested to keep Israel in the AU, such as Morocco, Chad and South Sudan, the countries of the “new wave” in relations with Tel Aviv, knowing that Algeria has never been a friend of Israel”.
According to the same source, the Israelis explained their diplomatic “defeat” at the last African summit, claiming that Algeria’s position came in addition to being traditionally hostile towards the occupation. However, the intensification of its conflict with Morocco over Western Sahara recently, after the White House announced at the end of the Trump era, its support for Morocco’s position, and the same administration worked to establish relations between Morocco and Israel, which intensified the Algerian hostility to Israel that dates back to historical roots in 1870 because, after 40 years of the French occupation of the country, all its Jewish citizens were granted French citizenship, and after they were in Protected status only they were promoted by order of the foreign occupation to equal citizens, according to what is known as the Crémieux Decree for the Naturalization of Jews.
The Israeli writer exposed the role played by the Makhzen regime in the corridors of the African Union, through its Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, in defence of the membership of the usurping entity, and before the eyes of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, who pleaded in favour of the decision to expel Israel from the membership of the African Commission, considering the membership of Israel “a reward it does not deserve” because of its criminal practices against the defenceless Palestinian people.
The head of the diplomacy of the Moroccan Makhzen regime evaded answering a question about Morocco’s support for Israel’s observer status and was talking about the legitimacy of the decision taken by the former head of the commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, who was revolted by Africans for not consulting African leaders.
Algeria took a strict position on the Hebrew state for decades, due to its settlement policies and criminal practices against the Palestinian people, and Algeria’s position on Tel Aviv is principled, and is based on supporting the colonized peoples to obtain their independence anywhere in the world.
