Jordan condemns Allenby Bridge terror attack, blames Israel
One day after a Jordanian terrorist murdered three Israeli border guards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing, Amman’s foreign ministry on Monday denounced “harm to civilians for any reason” while accusing Jerusalem of “escalatory steps” that provoked the shooting attack.
Road sign ahead of King Hussein Bridge Border Crossing, also known as the Allenby Bridge, on June 21, 2023. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS
“The Ministry stressed Jordan’s firm position in rejecting and condemning violence and targeting civilians for any reason, and calling for addressing all causes and escalatory steps that generate it,” said the official statement, which came some 14 hours after the terrorist attack.
Spokesman Sufyan Qudah stressed Amman’s “repeated warnings of the consequences of the continued Israeli aggression on Gaza, the dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank, and the attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and the repercussions of this on the entire region.
“Preliminary investigations confirmed that the incident, in which the shooter was also killed, was an individual act,” the ministry said.
Three civilian guards at the crossing in the Jordan Valley were killed in Sunday’s shooting, which took place around 10 a.m. The gunman, who the Israel Defense Forces said was a Jordanian national, was killed.
“This is a difficult day,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday. “An abhorrent terrorist murdered three of our citizens in cold blood at the Allenby Bridge. On behalf of the government and myself, I send condolences to the families of those who were murdered.”
All three land crossings between the Jewish state and Jordan were closed following the attack, Israeli authorities announced. The Allenby Crossing (known is Jordan as the King Hussein Bridge), Yitzhak Rabin Crossing (near Eilat, known in Jordan as the Wadi Araba Crossing) and Jordan River Crossing (near Beit She’an, known in Jordan as the Sheikh Hussein Bridge) were reopened for passenger crossing on Monday.
On Sunday evening, thousands of Jordanians rallied in support of the slain terrorist in Amman. According to local reports, protesters hoisted signs that read in Hebrew, “Death to Israel.”
The protesters also chanted, “Mohammed Deif is still alive,” in reference to the commander of the “military” wing (the Al-Qassam Brigades) of the Hamas terrorist organization who was killed in a July 13 Israeli Air Force strike, and set off fireworks in celebration of the shooting attack.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, but the kingdom has a majority Palestinian population and its government has taken an increasingly hostile tone since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 people in southern Israel and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
On Nov. 1, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel and told Jerusalem not to return its ambassador to Amman. Jordan’s foreign ministry said that the move was a protest against the “raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is … causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
JNS
