Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following the advice of his military, has announced there will be no restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque by Arab Israelis during the month of Ramadan. That should tamp down any Arab protests over Al-Aqsa during that month. “After slamming Israel, Jordan now wants more Israeli water – analysis,” by Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post, March 5, 2024:
As it is taking steps to alleviate possible tensions surrounding al-Aqsa, Israel should also signal Jordan as it is reviewing its water request that it also has a role to play in alleviating the tensions. All too often, during Ramadan, Jordanian rhetoric has gone in the opposite direction.
Two years ago, for instance, Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh, in an outrageous speech in the Jordanian parliament following clashes on the Temple Mount during Ramadan, said, “I praise every Palestinian and Jordanian Islamic Waqf [religious trust] worker who stands tall like a turret and those who throw rocks at the pro-Zionists who are defiling Al-Aqsa Mosque while under the security of the Israeli occupation government.” The pro-Zionists he referred to were Jews doing nothing more than praying at the Western Wall. Abdullah, as well, did little to ease tensions at the time, saying Israel’s “unilateral” moves against Muslim worshipers undermined the prospect of peace, and he blamed Israel’s “provocative acts” at the compound for the unrest….
Al-Khasawneh praised the rioters and rock throwers on the Temple Mount, who aimed their rocks — these are big rocks, capable of inflicting severe damage or even death — at pious Jews at the Western Wall far below, who were doing nothing more than worshipping: praying silently, or davening, or inserting between the old stones pieces of paper with prayers and wishes written on them. These pious Jews were in no sense “defiling Al-Aqsa Mosque”; they were hundreds of feet distant from the Temple Mount itself where Al-Aqsa is located; the Temple Mount lies 2,748 feet above sea level.
The Jordanians want Israel to double the amount of water Israel will supply it, from 50 million cubic meters — the amount it agreed to supply in the peace treaty it signed with Israel in 1994 — to 100 million cubic meters. Israel should express its displeasure with how Jordanians have behaved since October 7. They can point to Queen Rania’s CNN interview, when she attempted to cast doubt on the atrocities committed by Hamas, as “not helpful.” They can note that Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced on Al Jazeera on November 16, that the planned signing a month later of that three-way Jordan-Israel-UAE water-for-energy deal would not take place.
Let’s remind ourselves what Jordanian Prime Minister Ayman Safadi announced on November 16: “We will not sign this agreement any longer. Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting next to an Israeli minister to sign a water and electricity agreement, all while Israel continues to kill children in Gaza?” And now, in the first week in March, his government is doing exactly that — imploring the Israelis to sign that same agreement that, he was insistent a few months before would not be signed by his country “while Israel continues to kill children in Gaza.”
Israel needs to make clear that given the hostile behavior of Jordan toward the Jewish state since October 7, it has a few obvious demands to make on Jordan before it will agree to double the supply of water it provides Jordan. First, the Jordanians should stop accusing Israel of being a “threat to Al-Aqsa,” which is a surefire way to rile up Palestinians — and other Arabs — and lead to violence in Jerusalem.
Secondly, Jordan should stop attacking Israel for defending itself against Hamas. It should not allow Jordanian journalists to spread their lies about Jewish “atrocities,” and stop denying, too, what Hamas did on October 7. The Jordanian government has complete control over its media. Very well, then; it should use its power to shut down those who malign Israel.
Third, Israel will not obligate itself to continue to supply Jordan with 100 million cubic meters of water if those two demands are not met.
What can Jordan do? It needs that extra 50 million meters of water from Israel. Begrudgingly, it will have to comply with those demands. For Israel, after October 7, has changed. It has become more implacable and less accommodating to those who, it realizes, do not wish the Jewish state well. The usual nonsense and lies from Jordan will no longer be tolerated.
Ray Graham says
F*ck Jordan the cowards have done this before! Let the c*nts drink their own piss!
ElderlyZionist says
“What can Jordan do? It needs that extra 50 million meters of water from Israel.”
They can let their people go thirsty and blame it on the Jews. It’s a simple formula that the Arabs use over and over.
nicholas tesdorf says
Muslims always dig their own Graves.
David Fahey says
Israel should tell Jordon to eff right off, and go choke on their own sand and dust, then turn off the taps and not send them any water at all.
Jordan criticizes Israel for defending itself against genocidal HAMAS and Hezbollah? Jeez, who was it that the Jordanians slaughtered in September 1970? Oh, that’s right – it was the “Palestinians” led by Arafat and the PLO, along with their murderous PFLP partners! How ripe for the Jordanians to criticize Israel for defending itself against murdering gangs of Arabs when it has done the same and worse itself!!
Second, Israel should remind Jordan that Israel is a functioning constitutional democracy that operates under the rule of law, and grants the same rights to its Arab citizens as its Jewish ones enjoy. Jordan, on the other hand, is an ILLEGITIMATE monarchy (i.e. dictatorship), whose “ruling family” were GIVEN Jordan ILLEGALLY by the British in 1921. The Hashemite family were from Hejaz, where their father was the Sharif of Mecca. Abdullah, the first “king” of Jordan, never had any legitimate claim to the king of the Arab tribes in what was then part of the Mandate territory of Trans-Jordan, which was incidentally envisioned by the League of Nations to become a homeland for the Jewish people. The British split off what is not Jordan (the part of the Mandate territory east of the Jordan River) and gave it to Abdullah, and the rest of the Mandate territory (the part west of the Jordan River – i.e. modern day Israel, to include Judea and Samaria) was supposed to become the Jewish state, but the British screwed that up as well. The Jewish people who used to live in Jordan were all driven out during the 1948 war (including the Jewish people who lived in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, and had done so for thousands of years, when the Jordanians captured East Jerusalem during the war).
Incidentally, in 1950 Jordan annexed the West Bank (Arab-Occupied Judea and Samaria) and East Jerusalem, and in 1954, Jordan granted Jordanian nationality to non-Jewish residents who had been Palestinian nationals before May 15, 1948. So, all those “Palestinian refugees” who claim they are state-less and want to go home, can simply go to Jordan, where they are citizens. That would solve a lot of the problem, since all the non-Jews in Judea and Samaria are technically Jordanians, and they should leave Israel and go back to their own country.
Thomas says
In a best case scenario, the Jordanians will agree to all the terms that the author of this article suggests, and once they will receive their water, they will return to the same previous rhetoric. We have seen such things too often. .
OLD GUY says
Hopefully the leaders of Israel are smarter than American leaders and don’t fund the enemy with foreign aid and weapons. Not sure if American politicians think they can buy friends, or it the kick backs and profit made from the goods delivered.
Dave says
Jordan is the “palestinian” state. From the river to the sea is Israel. All Gaza residents need to be relocated to Jordan.