Moroccan officials attend Hanukkah ceremony in Casablanca for the first time, Jewish group says

Moroccan officials attended, Sunday, a Hanukkah celebration in Casablanca alongside members of the Jewish community in the country. A Jewish group saw the step as a first in Morocco, Times of Israel wrote on Thursday.

The same source indicates that 800 people from the Moroccan-Jewish community attended the event, held at a Casablanca hotel. The celebration was reportedly attended by Said Ahmidouch, the wali, or local governor, of the Casablanca-Settat region, and Rachid Afirat, governor of the Casablanca-Anfa prefecture.

«This sends a strong message of peace and tolerance», said Rabbi Levi Banon, director of the Jeunesse Chabad of Morocco, a group that organized the event alongside the Council of Jewish Communities of Morrocco and Casablanca’s David Hamelech Synagogue.

«Morocco, under the leadership and inspiration of King Mohammed VI, has been a true example for the world of what coexistence between all peoples looks like», Banon said.

For the record, Israeli figures indicate that between 1,200 and 1,500 Jews live in Morocco. In the last eight years, 432 Moroccan Jews have left the Kingdom for Israeli, according to data compiled by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.