Ahmad 
The incident when the Dean of the Faculty of Science refused to honor an outstanding student at the Higher School of Technology at Hassan II University in Casablanca, because she was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, sparked widespread controversy in Morocco.
The incident occurred during an awards ceremony for outstanding students and prompted a strong reaction from the public and students, as many saw this behavior as a restriction of freedom of expression and a violation of the Moroccan national position in support of the Palestinian cause.
Despite the dean’s attempts to force the student to remove the keffiyeh, he was forced to withdraw from the ceremony under the pressure of public discontent, so that the school principal could remedy the situation and honor the student.
This incident shed light on the growing student movement in Morocco, which rejects academic normalization with Israel and calls for strengthening solidarity with Palestine.
In its first comment on the incident, the local branch of the National Union of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Casablanca announced their support for the outstanding student and their denunciation of the behavior, which they described as “irresponsible.”
It seems that Moroccan universities have become an active arena for expressing support for the Palestinian cause, especially in light of the Israeli war on Gaza.
It is noteworthy that Moroccan-Israeli normalization took place on December 10, 2020, with American mediation, making Morocco the sixth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel, after Egypt (1979), Jordan (1994), the Emirates (2020), Bahrain (2020), and Sudan (2020).
Revenues of the most prominent Moroccan mining companies decreased by 13% in the first quarter