Jordan’s ambassador recalled from Israel
Jordan was the second Arab state to make peace with Israel in 1994, after Egypt in 1979. Thousands of protesters have called for Amman to rescind its peace treaty with Israel.
(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel last week in protest of the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip and the mounting civilian death toll in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi told envoy Rasan al-Majali to return to Amman “as an expression of Jordan’s position of rejection and condemnation of the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”, according to a statement released by Jordan’s Foreign Ministry.
Jordan also asked Israel’s Foreign Ministry to tell ambassador Rogel Rachman, who was temporarily called back to Israel because of security threats in Jordan, not to return to Amman.
According to the statement, “The return of the ambassadors will be linked to Israel stopping its war on Gaza and stopping the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing, and all its measures that deprive the Palestinians of their right to food, water, medicine, and their right to live safely and stable on their national soil.”
Israel responded carefully hours later, saying only that it “regrets” the decision in a tweet from Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat.
Jordan follows Colombia and Chile, which also recalled their envoys for consultation the night before. Bolivia suspended all diplomatic ties with Israel, which were virtually nonexistent.
Israel withdrew its diplomats from Turkey earlier this month to “reassess relations” as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to lash the Jewish state for its actions in the Gaza Strip.
Jordan was the second Arab state to make peace with Israel in 1994, after Egypt in 1979. Thousands of protesters have called for Amman to rescind its peace treaty with Israel.
Jordan, whose population is believed to be at least 50 per cent Palestinian, has shown nervousness over the war in Gaza.
“The whole region is on the brink of falling into the abyss,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II said after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin in the second week of the conflict. “All our efforts are needed to make sure we don’t get there.”
Meanwhile, Jordan’s Queen Rania claimed in an interview that there is no verifiable evidence Hamas terrorists beheaded children during their October 7 massacre, despite various materials available on the atrocities.
She also accused Western leaders of a “glaring double standard” for not condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
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