Petition Submitted to Moroccan Parliament for Citizenship Rights to Descendants of Jews

A legislative petition calling for Moroccan citizenship to be granted to all children and grandchildren of Moroccan Jews was submitted to Morocco's House of Representatives on April 30, 2026. Petition 321183 was submitted by Moroccan citizen El Houssain Benmessaoud to Rachid Talbi Alami, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Nadia Bouaida, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

This marks the second submission of the petition, following a 2024 attempt that failed to gather the required signatures.

The National Gateway for Citizen Participation has now begun receiving signatures for this latest iteration, as reported by the Jerusalem Post. At its core, the petition requests that Moroccan nationality be granted to all Moroccan Jews who previously renounced it, along with their children and grandchildren.

It highlights how descendants of Moroccan Jews abroad lost Moroccan nationality by descent over generations, often due to emigration for economic, religious, and other reasons.

The petition states that Moroccan Jews have been an integral component of the nation, historically united under the monarchy, and that Moroccan identity persists in the lives of Moroccan Jews abroad. The petition also asks that applicants retaining other nationalities be allowed dual citizenship if the legislation is enacted.

It calls for the creation of an independent national body for Jewish religious affairs and for the protection of Moroccan Jewish communities from discrimination or attacks inside and outside Morocco.

Additionally, the petition seeks the establishment of a national online portal to manage applications and urges the state to integrate descendants into economic, political, cultural, and social life. Not all views align with the petition's proposals.

Jacky Kadoch, President of the Jewish Community of Marrakech, told Sky News Arabia that descendants of Moroccan Jewish emigrants do not face any difficulties in obtaining citizenship or a passport.

He stated there is no need for a petition or a new law, emphasizing that Jews are Moroccan citizens who have the same rights as all other citizens, regardless of religion. Kadoch added that he personally has a list of more than 300 grandchildren who have obtained Moroccan citizenship without issues in recent years.

Jews of Moroccan origin who want to obtain Moroccan citizenship can do so because the right to Moroccan citizenship applies by filiation up to fourth-generation descendants.

In July 2011, an amendment was introduced to the Moroccan constitution in which Judaism was mentioned as part of the Moroccan heritage. An estimated 2,000 Jews live in Morocco. About 500,000 to one million Israelis have Moroccan ancestry, making up roughly 10% of the population and constituting the second-largest ethnic group in Israel.