A surprising act of solidarity to say the least.
Moroccan hashish traffickers have announced that they will stop supplying Israel due to the war in Gaza, reports several Israeli media including Ha'Aretz, citing several testimonies reported by the Israeli media Mako.
According to an Israeli drug trafficker interviewed by the news site, Moroccan suppliers have already interrupted their deliveries.
“They decided, because of the war, to boycott.
Since the war, we have lost a lot of money.
Tens of millions of shekels, at least,” said this source, who wanted to remain anonymous.
Also read: Import trafficking of several tonnes of khat dismantled between Israel and France
If stopping imports therefore seems to penalize Israeli dealers, this does not seem to be the case for Moroccan traffickers.
According to an Israeli living in Morocco and involved in this trafficking, Israel, where consumption of the narcotic for recreational purposes was authorized at the beginning of 2022, does not represent a significant percentage of Moroccan exports, unlike Europe and Scandinavia.
“Buy it elsewhere”
A Moroccan dealer from the Rif, a mountainous region in the north of the country which is home to one of the largest production sites on the planet, confirmed to Israeli TV channel N12 that a boycott had been put in place: “Why is it possible Israelis to earn their living selling Moroccan hashish while our Palestinian brothers suffer from hunger and live in inhumane conditions?
Buy it elsewhere.
We no longer sell hashish to Israelis,” he said.
“Before the war, we did business here with the Israelis.
Smugglers and traffickers came here and made a lot of money.
Now it’s over,” he added.
While Morocco and Israel have normalized their diplomatic relations for three years, this does not go down well with a large part of the population, including hashish producers and exporters.
Sought all over the world for its quality, Moroccan hashish is one of the country's most valuable businesses after tourism and the export of phosphate.