Israel, Morocco and US agree steps to upgrade ties at New York summit

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar met Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in New York on Tuesday for a three-way diplomatic meeting hosted by Mike Waltz, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. According to a statement issued by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the three governments used the meeting to restate their commitment to a package of measures intended to raise the level of relations between Israel and Morocco.

The measures listed by the ministry include upgrading the diplomatic relationship between the two states, raising each country's diplomatic mission to the rank of embassy, and appointing ambassadors. Sa'ar was also expected to hold a separate bilateral meeting with Bourita later the same day, the ministry said.

What the two sides said they would do

The Israeli statement set out several commitments with dates attached. Israel and Morocco agreed to finalise an investment protection agreement and an agreement to prevent double taxation by the end of 2026. Treaties of that kind are standard instruments of commercial diplomacy: an investment protection agreement gives companies from each country legal guarantees when they put money into the other, while a double taxation treaty stops the same income being taxed twice, in both jurisdictions. The ministry said the two agreements are meant to make mutual investment easier and to build up trade and economic links.

A second commitment concerns civil aviation. The parties agreed to widen the range of flights between the two countries so that Moroccan carriers also operate routes, with that step to be carried out by the end of 2026. The summit also produced an understanding that senior officials from each country will make reciprocal visits in the coming months, the ministry said, without naming who would travel or when.

Sa'ar was quoted in the statement describing the historical relationship between the two peoples. "The friendship between the Moroccan and Jewish peoples has deep roots and a rich history," he said, adding that the declaration signed at the meeting "outlines practical ways to upgrade ties between Israel and Morocco for the benefit of both peoples, and we will work to implement it." The ministry also thanked the United States for what it called its leadership and pursuit of peace and security, which it said made the meeting possible.

Why Morocco matters to Israel

Morocco, in north-west Africa, is the origin country of one of the largest communities within Israeli society. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis trace their family history to Moroccan Jewish communities, and that connection has shaped cultural, culinary and religious life in Israel for generations. It is the background to Sa'ar's reference to deep roots, and it is why aviation links and visa-free travel between the two countries carry a weight that goes beyond tourism figures.

Relations between the two states have been conducted through diplomatic missions below embassy rank. Moving those missions up to embassy level, and naming ambassadors, is the formal step that the New York meeting reaffirmed rather than completed. The Israeli statement described the outcome as a reaffirmation of commitments and a signed declaration, not as the establishment of embassies on the day.

The Abraham Accords framework

The meeting followed an event held the previous day at Ambassador Waltz's residence marking the sixth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the set of US-brokered normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority states. Representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Israel and the United States took part in that gathering, the Israeli ministry said.

The timing places the trilateral meeting in the annual New York diplomatic season, when foreign ministers gather around United Nations activity in the city. The US role at the meeting was that of host: Waltz, as Washington's ambassador to the UN, convened the two foreign ministers rather than signing on behalf of a third party to the Israel-Morocco measures, as described in the Israeli account.

What the material does not say

The account of the meeting available here comes from a single source, the Israeli government's own press release. There is no Moroccan or American statement in the material, so the wording each of those governments used, and any differences of emphasis between them, is not known.

The release does not publish the text of the declaration the ministers signed, nor does it say who signed it or in what form. It does not name the ambassadors to be appointed, give a date for the elevation of the missions, or identify which Moroccan airlines would fly the expanded routes or on which city pairs. No date or destination is given for the reciprocal visits described as taking place in the coming months, and the release does not say what the separate bilateral meeting between Sa'ar and Bourita was intended to cover or whether it produced any further understandings.