A video posted by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on social media over the weekend caused an uproar in the Arab and Moroccan media.
Kan 11 News reported that behind Netanyahu in the video was a map in which the Western Sahara region was separated from Morocco, which claims sovereignty over the area.
As part of Morocco’s normalization agreement with Israel, US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s sovereignty in Western Sahara. The State Department recently adopted a new official map of Morocco that includes Western Sahara.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman for the Arab media, Hassan Kaabia, said in an interview with a local network in Morocco that the map in Netanyahu’s video was a mistake that was not made intentionally.
"An old map appeared in the video. Let us not forget that next to Netanyahu was the Moroccan flag that we are proud of. This will be corrected in the new maps that will appear," the spokesman explained.
Meanwhile, a Moroccan delegation was in Israel on Monday in order to lay the groundwork for the opening of a liaison office in the Jewish state.
The Moroccan team landed on Sunday and is expected to remain in the country for a few days. It will be followed at a later date by a larger delegation, a source told AFP, without providing further details.