Why do you believe Morocco plays no role in the War of Gog and Magog?

Okay, this isn’t a frequently asked question, but it is a question important to me and one that can shed some light on this whole issue of God blessing those who bless Israel.

The truth is I don’t know for certain whether Morocco will join the Russian-Iranian coalition against Israel or not. In The Ezekiel Option, Morocco does not participate in the war, and I think that is a reasonable conclusion. That’s certainly my hope.

I have had the privilege of visiting Morocco a number of times over the years, and I have really fallen in love with the country. I have always been treated with great warmth and kindness as an American and as a Jewish person, as well as a follower of Christ. Indeed, the kingdom has a long and impressive history of protecting the Jewish people and of trying to broker a series of peace deals between Israel and the Arab world.

When I visited Casablanca and Rabat in the fall of 2005, I had the privilege of meeting with a man named Serge Berdugo, a Jew who has served as one of the top advisors to a number of recent Moroccan kings. He gave me some fascinating insights.

He noted, for example, that the first thing King Mohammed V did when he returned from exile in 1956 and led his country to independence was to declare that the “Jews are equal citizens.” From 1956 to 1961, the king made a point to install at least one or two Jewish leaders into senior-level positions in each cabinet ministry. He also allowed Jews to freely emigrate when they wanted, and there are now some 600,000 Moroccan Jews living in Israel.

Berdugo told me that Morocco’s relationship with Israel began in the late 1960s with top-secret meetings with Yitzhak Rabin and Moshe Dayan, who at that time were two of Israel’s leading defense officials.

In 1984 the king invited fifty Jewish and Israeli leaders to Rabat, Morocco’s capital, for an interfaith conference—and then decided that the entire senior leadership of the Moroccan government, including the crown prince, should attend the conference’s gala dinner.

In 1986, the king invited Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres to Morocco for a highly publicized visit, a move that stunned most of the rest of the Muslim world.

When a series of bombings ripped through synagogues and Jewish clubs in Morocco in 2003, the new king—Mohammed VI—blessed a series of candlelight vigils and later a rally in which one million Moroccans, including more than a thousand Jews, marched in unison to denounce the radical jihadists and called for peace. “We were applauded as Jews,” Berdugo told me. “We were kissed. People came up to us and said, ‘You are our brothers.’ It was extraordinary.”

All of this suggests two things: First, secret talks between Israel and her Arab neighbors have been going on for years, and there may be other countries willing to make peace with Israel before or immediately after the War of Gog and Magog. And second, Morocco’s relationship with Israel and the Jewish people could prove to be a model for other Arab and Islamic countries to follow, particularly if the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38–39 is still some years away. After all, my sources inside the Moroccan government say the king is seeking to play a “bridge builder” role between the Israelis and Palestinians and can do so with considerable authority since Morocco has proven that Jews and Muslims can live and work together in peace and harmony.