The Morocco director of Sharaka, an Israeli-Arab organization that promotes Arab normalization with Israel has been questioned by the National Judicial Police Squad in Casablanca following a complaint filed last month by anti-normalization activists. The complaint was directed against members of a Moroccan youth delegation that visited Israel in July. Youssef Azhari, who led the delegation during its July visit, was summoned by police on Monday as part of an investigation stemming from this complaint, according to sources from the National Action Group for Palestine, a pro-Palestinian Moroccan NGO. The sources told the New Arab that the investigation concerning the head of Sharaka is focused on an allegation of «insulting Prophet Muhammad». Elazhari reportedly attended an event at the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, where he allegedly stated that «Prophet Muhammad was a Zionist». Azhari's questioning follows a complaint filed on September 18 with the public prosecutor at the Court of Appeals in Rabat. It is worth mentioning that amid the Israeli war on Gaza, Azhari led a Moroccan delegation to Israel on July 8, where they met with Israeli officials, including Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Meir Ben Shabbat, chairman of the Misgav Institute for Zionist Strategy and National Security and a former Israeli national security advisor. «The Misgav Institute had the privilege of hosting a delegation of young Moroccan leaders who came to Israel with Sharaka, an Israeli-Arab organization dedicated to promoting peace and partnership in the Middle East», the institute wrote on its X (formerly Twitter) account. The visit aimed «to promote a warm peace between Israel and the countries of the Abraham Accords», according to the Israeli institute. The visit of the Moroccan delegation, which included 28 influencers, academics, and social activists, was organised by the «Moroccan Coexistence» association in cooperation with Sharaka.
