President of the Moroccan House of Councillors Enaam Mayara is set to make a historic first visit to the Knesset on Thursday, the Knesset announced on Sunday.
Mayara is the first Moroccan official to make an official visit to the Knesset, and he will be welcomed in a ceremony that will feature the Moroccan flag and anthem.
The day will open with a stately reception followed by Mayara signing the official Knesset guest book before he and his delegation join Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana for a meeting. At the end of the meeting, Mayara and Ohana will make a statement to the press.
At the same time, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, which Mayara is the head of, will be joining him on his visit, and Ohana is set to meet with them as well.
A new age of Israeli-Moroccan relations
"This is an unprecedented visit that points to the new age of Israeli-Moroccan relations," said Ohana. "In the past, we could only dream about a symbol of Moroccan governance coming for a stately visit to Israel. Today, this is a hopeful reality that can teach us about the options to expand the circles of peace in the Middle East."
Ohana added congratulations to Mayara for being the first Moroccan official to make such a visit.
"There is nothing more obvious than the warm relationship between the peoples to be expressed in the warm relationship between the parliamentarians who represent them," he said.
Mayara's visit comes as relations between Israel and Morocco have continued to warm since the latter joined the Abraham Accords at the end of 2020.
In June, Ohana visited Rabat at which time he spoke in support of Israel recognizing Moroccan sovereignty in the Western Sahara. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announced Israel's recognition of this sovereignty a month later.
At the end of July, Moroccan King Muhammad VI invited Netanyahu to visit him in Rabat, but the visit has not yet happened.