Israel is expanding its consular headquarters in Dubai and Rabat in light of the progress made in the relations with the UAE and Morocco.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry will launch an additional floor at the headquarters of its embassy in Dubai and establish a permanent building for the embassy in Rabat that will be four times larger than the current headquarters.
A source in the ministry revealed that the new headquarters is practically the one that the Israeli government bought in the nineties of the last century, which it used as a representative office. It left the building when Morocco cut ties with Israel in the wake of the second intifada.
The building is on Ben Barka Street, in the posh Suissa neighborhood, and will be rebuilt at the cost of $4 million, which does not include the residence of the ambassador, who is renting a building in the Suissa neighborhood.
The financial resource official, Tzvia Shimon, revealed that she visited Morocco last April and arranged the construction with a local contracting company that agreed to give him a free ten-year guarantee.
Shimon also agreed with a local company to monitor the quality of construction. A similar agreement was conducted with an Emirati company in Dubai.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Police Commissioner, Kobi Shabtai, arrived in Rabat Monday on a first-of-its-kind visit to meet with senior Moroccan police officials and the General Directorate of National Security.
Israeli sources said that Shabtai will discuss with Moroccan officials "bolstering operational, intelligence, and investigative cooperation, to strengthen the relationship.”
During the five-day stay, Shabtai will visit several police and "security" stations in Morocco.
He is the eighth key figure in Israel to visit Morocco since joining the Abraham Accords. He was preceded by: Prime Minister Yair Lapid when he was a Foreign Minister, Minister of Defense Benny Gantz, Chief of Army Staff Aviv Kohavi, Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked, Minister of Economy Orna Barbivai, Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej, and Minister of Science and Technology Orit Farkash.
A police official in Tel Aviv stated that Shabtai would try to reach serious understandings with his Moroccan counterparts about a problem Israeli police face with criminal offenders escaping Israel and finding refuge in Morocco.
Several Arab citizens establish solid economic ties in Morocco, evading the Israeli police and taking advantage of their birthright to attain citizenship and remain in the country.
