Moroccans protest US-flagged ship carrying arms for Israeli regime docks at Tangier port

“Whoever welcomes Israel’s ships is not one of us,” the protesters chanted during the rally on Monday, two days after the vessel, Maersk Denver, docked at the port.

The ship headed towards the port after Spain refused to let it dock at any of its ports, with the country’s foreign ministry asserting that Madrid has not and would not grant docking permits to the vessel.

Maersk, the shipping company that sails the vessel, however, denied that its cargo includes “any military weapons or ammunition.”

The National Secretariat of Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group, said that Moroccan authorities had ignored all calls from various parties not to accept the ship.

“This ship, loaded with weapons shipments, will unload its cargo onto another ship, which will then continue its journey towards the port of the occupied city of Haifa,” added the secretariat.

It reminded that this was the second time that Rabat had opened up its ports to such vessels after welcoming the military ship INS Komemiyut that belongs to the Israeli army.

The secretariat called the country’s continued contribution to provision of weapons to the Israeli military “a shameful decision.”

“The Moroccan authorities have colluded with the US, which is the source of these weapons, and with the Zionist enemy army, which is committing the genocide against the Palestinian people and the brutal aggression against Lebanon.”

The comments came on the 402nd day of the war on Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 43,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since its onset on October 7, 2023 following a retaliatory operation staged by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.