Information about my work and research; but also everything about the life of Moroccan Jewry, from the travel app to the latest book, information about contemporary diplomatic and cultural developments concerning Morocco, Israel, Moroccan Jews and Palestine.
Published by Bibliomonde in Paris in November 2022, Le Maroc, Israël et les Juifs marocains (politique, culture, diplomatie, business et religion) is the result of contacts and research begun in 1985-86.
Its 340 pages are divided into a preface by Prof. Dale F. Eickelman, 21 chapters, 2 indexes (by proper name and by theme), a detailed chronology, 20 historical images and a selective bibliography.
Through interviews, meetings, readings and field visits, particularly in Morocco and Israel, but also in the United States and France, the book tells the story of Moroccan Judaism from the inside, of the first diplomatic contacts between the two states, Morocco and Israel, and of how Morocco, Israel and Moroccan Jews – both Moroccan and from the Diaspora – have been able to collaborate, develop and grow a positive, winning relationship.
The book will undergo a 2nd updated edition in autumn 2023, before publication in Hebrew and Arabic in the 1st quarter of 2024.
The book is available in Moroccan bookshops and online at Qitab.ma and livre-moi.ma, in French bookshops in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and more internationally (Europe and North America in particular) online at Fnac and Amazon and other French and Quebec online booksellers.
“The uniqueness of this book is that it brings together official accounts of the “peace process”, high diplomacy and state ties, discreet and stable security ties, unpublished agreements, and commercial ties with the enduring and stable ties of popular religion, religious celebrations, language, and even the music that connects Moroccan Muslims and Jews.
Amiar links the “high” level of international agreements – most recently the Abraham Accords that Morocco signed in December 2020 – to the developments that underpin the headlines.
He situates these high-level agreements within the range of crises and departures of Jewish communities in Morocco and beyond, mainly in the 20th century, through the tumultuous years of the Second World War, including the threat to Jews during the Vichy regime under the French protectorate, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Morocco’s struggle for independence against France and Spain in 1956, and the uncertain early years after independence (…)
Foreword by Dale F. Eickelman, Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Human Relations at Dartmouth College, USA.
He is also President of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies (TALIM).
The city of Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast south of Casablanca, boasted as many as 37 synagogues, most of them still in operation on the eve of the 20th century. This is hardly surprising, given that Essaouira is a Moroccan town where the majority of the population has been of the Jewish faith…
Quickly dubbed Marokaï sikine, the “Moroccans with knives”, due to incidents committed by young Israelis of Moroccan origin, Moroccans in Israel would see this label stick to them for years to come. The poor reception conditions and discrimination …
Between 1956 and 1968, the diplomacy of aliyah 1 consisted of a succession of negotiations and agreements on semi-clandestine and official emigration, as well as the first major security and military cooperation between the two countries.
The negotiation and organization …
(…) On the Moroccan side, the day after the Oslo I agreements were signed in Washington in September 1993, the first Moroccan delegation visited Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in October. The Israelis had already launched preparations for what was to be the Casablanca economic summit for the Maghreb-Middle East region in November 1994. The Moroccan delegation was received with all honors. Their stay lasted 10 days.
At the King David Palace in Jerusalem, Yitzhak Rabin gave a speech that Moroccan participants remembered thirty years later, in which the Israeli Prime Minister and signatory of the Oslo Accords asserted that “Israel has many friends in the world, but [that] Morocco’s friendship is special…
For his part, Rabbi David Pinto based between Raanana near Tel Aviv and Paris, and advisor to Jared Kushner, had no hesitation in telling Médias24 in December 2020 that “when Donald Trump became president, the first thing I did was tell Jared, who has been my spiritual student for decades, not to forget Morocco.”
David Pinto is one of the men who notably introduced Jared Kushner to the history and specificities of Moroccan Judaism…
Born in Morocco in 1960, Jamal Amiar studied political science in France and the USA before working as a journalist and teaching, first in the USA and then in Morocco.
Today, as a freelance reporter, he continues his research into Moroccan diplomacy and Moroccan Judaism, while giving lectures and training in journalism and communications, particularly in the design and formulation of messages in corporate and political environments.
