French-Moroccan Professor Youssef Chiheb: “Israel is Not an Enemy of Morocco”; “The Arab World has been Brainwashed with Anti-Zionist and Anti-Israel Rhetoric”

On February 12, 2020, French-Moroccan Professor Youssef Chiheb said in an interview on France 24 Arabic TV that the attitude of the Arab world towards Israel is "archaic" and that the Arab world needs to rethink its attitude towards Israel in light of other emerging dangers such as Iran.

Youssef Chiheb: "In my opinion, the greater danger that threatens the Arab world is Iran, the Shi'ite movement in the region, and the proliferation of WMDs, and the spread of terrorism in the Sub-Sahara, and the Sahel region. Israel is not an enemy of Morocco. Furthermore, in the past, it provided some intelligence services..."

Interviewer: "This is what certain people in the region are saying."

Youssef Chiheb: "It's the truth."

Interviewer: "This is your opinion. Others may think differently."

Youssef Chiheb: "Israel has no problem with Morocco. It does not hate Morocco. In addition, as my colleague said, Morocco is exceptional in the Arab world when it comes to its potential relations with Israel. Morocco is a country that..."

Interviewer: "What kind of relationship can we have with Israel? We saw that Jordan and Egypt have signed a peace treaty with Israel, but it did not change at all what the people feel about Israel. If such a thing happens in Morocco – will there be a peace treaty? How will the normalization proceed? Will Morocco welcome Netanyahu, for instance?"

Youssef Chiheb: "The Arab world has been brainwashed with anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli rhetoric. But the world has changed and so has the balance of power in the Middle East. Other dangers have risen, globalization has appeared, ideas have changed... The Arab way of thinking towards Israel has become archaic. Israel must be dealt with as an existing state."

Interviewer: "So the Palestinian cause is over?"

Youssef Chiheb: "The Palestinian cause is between the Palestinians and Israel..."

Interviewer: "Isn't it the number one cause of the Arabs?"

Youssef Chiheb: "I don't think so."

Interviewer: "For many years, the Palestinian cause has been the number one cause of the Arabs."

Youssef Chiheb: "It was in the old days, but it's over. It was part of the common tune, but all the Arab regimes have used the Palestinian cause for domestic purposes. No Arab leader has offered any solution for the Palestinians.

[...]

"Jerusalem and Palestine were lost in 1999, when Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat were in Morocco, and then moved to Washington under the auspices of Clinton, who said that they had been given the opportunity of a lifetime – not the Deal of the Century, but an opportunity of a lifetime – to put their pride aside and sign an agreement. The late Chairman Arafat was about to sign, but then the Arab countries intervened and accused him of treason. In our Arab way of thinking, we are still the victims of the Crusader wars. We still believe that within every Arab person there is a Saladin Al-Ayoubi. The world has changed."