"I would like to congratulate HM King Mohammed VI for the courage and intelligence to take strict but effective measures that promote the health of His people," the director of emergencies at the National Institute of Health in Mexico, Eric Hazan-Lasri, said in a statement to MAP, on the sidelines of a meeting Tuesday at the Moroccan embassy in Mexico City, an opportunity for the Moroccan Jewish community to express solidarity with the Moroccan people.

For this orthopaedic surgeon with parents born in Marrakech, these drastic measures, which in the short term seem restrictive, will, in the medium and long term, be very favorable to the country's economy, as they promote the health of an entire people.

After highlighting the courage of the Moroccan people and their sacrifices in the face of this pandemic, Hazan-Lasri said he is proud of his Moroccan culture and the continuing strong ties with the mother country.

For his part, Rabbi Mesoud Asher Zrihen, who praised HM the King's proactive approach, from the outset of the epidemic, in strengthening unprecedented preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus and mitigate its health and social effects.

"On behalf of the Moroccan Jewish community in Mexico, we express our solidarity with the Moroccan people, and we are proud of His Majesty's firm commitment in this regard. Remember that we are in solidarity with you with all our hearts and we pray that God, Almighty, will protect you from all evil," he said.

 On his part, Rabbi Moshe Peretz expressed, in a similar statement, the solidarity of the Moroccan Jewish community with the Moroccan people in these difficult times and his best wishes for the recovery of those affected, welcoming the adoption by the Kingdom of important measures to curb the acceleration of the new coronavirus.

The Rabbi also highlighted the attachment of Moroccan Jews to their country of origin, Morocco, which reflects a "special and unique relationship in the world" hence the importance of the presence today at the Kingdom's embassy in Mexico City to express our solidarity with the Moroccan people".

 The members of the Jewish community present at this meeting expressed their attachment to their Moroccanness and their gratitude for the high regard in which the Sovereign holds the members of the Moroccan Jewish community throughout the world.

"HM King Mohammed VI is our visionary guide and commander, and we, Moroccans from inside the country and abroad, will succeed in curbing the spread of this epidemic and come out stronger," said, in his turn, Moises Amselem, an entrepreneur native of the northern city of Larache.