Since the Iranian strike against Israel on Saturday, April 13, Jordan has found itself in the unenviable position of being Israel's best ally against Iran. Yet it has been among its most virulent detractors since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Its air force helped foil an Iranian attack on Israel by shooting down Iranian drones that had entered its airspace. Amman, which usually denies carrying out actions that are controversial in the eyes of public opinion, has acknowledged its involvement. The Hashemite kingdom denied having intervened in support of Israel and said it did so to protect itself.
These arguments are intended to calm the anger of a population that is hostile to Israel. Among the Jordanian population, the majority of whom are of Palestinian origin, accusations of betrayal have emerged against the authorities. A photo of King Abdullah II in military uniform, flanked by an Israeli flag, is circulating on social media. On Tuesday, the foreign affairs minister, Ayman Safadi, called on the international community not to lose sight of Gaza and the West Bank, believing that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was using the conflict with Iran to divert attention.
A close US ally, dependent on Washington's aid and bound by a "cold peace" with Israel since 1994, the Hashemite kingdom's fragility has been exacerbated by the conflict in Gaza and its regional repercussions. It does not want an additional influx of Palestinians, nor internal destabilization by the "axis of resistance."
The regime would like to see Hamas crushed in Gaza, without saying so publicly because of the Islamist movement's popularity within Jordanian society. It has not responded to signs of openness from Hamas, whose political office in exile was established in Jordan in the 1990s. Its expulsion was one of the first acts of Abdullah II after he acceded to power in 1999. At the same time, the destruction of Gaza by Israel and the violence in the West Bank are worrying Amman, which sees in them the beginnings of a forced expulsion of Palestinians towards Egypt and its territory.
With the risk of escalation looming, Abdullah II declared on Sunday in a call with US President Joe Biden that his country "will not be the theater of a regional war." The Iranian ambassador to the kingdom was summoned in response to Iran's threats of retaliation against Jordan. Relations with the Islamic Republic have always been frosty. The King of Jordan was the first Arab leader to theorize, in 2004, the peril of an Iranian-dominated "Shiite crescent" in the Middle East.
You have 61.28% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.