This is an event that will rekindle hearts.
In an international context made tense by the war in Ukraine, it is rare to be able to rejoice.
So let's not sulk our joy after the holding of a women's basketball match, oh so symbolic, between Moroccan and Israeli women this Wednesday in Rabat.
An obvious sign of rapprochement and appeasement between two nations, which have experienced complicated relations and which are now relying on sport to normalize their ties.
A great first in Rabat
Morocco - Israel in Women's Basketball next Wednesday.
When is a football match? # Lapaixenroute pic.twitter.com/H0E3O0CA2N
— Simon Haïm Skira (@Ge2pP) June 12, 2022
This is the first time (in basketball) that an Israeli national team has faced an Arab team in their country, according to the website of the Israel Basketball Federation (IBBA).
The Israeli rugby players had beaten the Emirati XV in March 2021 in Dubai.
The Moroccans beat the Israelis (62-58) after a close encounter, played in a gymnasium in Salé, near Rabat, in front of around 200 people.
This exhibition match was organized on the sidelines of a framework cooperation agreement signed Tuesday in Rabat, in the presence of the president of the International Basketball Federation Hamane Niang, between the Royal Moroccan Basketball Federation (FRMBB) and the IBBA in order to to develop sports exchanges.
“We are here for sport and only for sport,” FRMBB president Moustapha Aourach told AFP.
"It's not a secret, there are many sensitive points in relations with Arab nations but we are not politicians, we are here to play basketball," added his Israeli counterpart Amiram Halevi.
But this partnership described as "historic" is also, and above all, a matter of "sports diplomacy" after the normalization of bilateral relations between the two countries.
It is "in the spirit of
the Abraham Accords"
and is in line with the desire of the two countries to build the future within the framework of multidimensional cooperation", underlined the Moroccan Minister of Education. and Sports, Chakib Benmoussa, quoted by the Moroccan press agency MAP.
Israel and Morocco restored diplomatic relations in December 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, a process of normalization between the Jewish state and several Arab countries, supported by the former US administration of Donald Trump.
Since then, the rapprochement between the Cherifian kingdom and the Jewish state has continued at a steady pace, with visits and the signing of partnerships in the technological, security, military, economic and cultural fields.
Wednesday's match went off without incident or protest.