https://www.memri.org/reports/jorda...therhood-they-are-acting-foment-chaos-kingdom
ince Hamas' October 7, 2023 terror attack, and against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, which has been ongoing for six months, Jordan has seen a surge in popular support for Hamas and hostility towards Israel, which are expressed in many anti-Israel demonstrations and in explicit calls to confront it and wage jihad against it.[1]
Recently there has been an increase in the size and intensity of these demonstrations, which are organized primarily by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Jordan. The protests take place throughout the country, but one of their main sites is around the Israeli embassy in Amman's Al-Rabia area, where thousands of young men gather every evening after the iftar (end-of-fast meal) to "besiege the embassy building."[2] The masses that participate in these protests call to revoke the peace agreement with Israel, sever the relations with it and open the border crossings between the two countries "in order to let the young Jordanians help their brethren in Palestine."[3] On several occasions demonstrators tried to break through the police barriers and reach the embassy itself, but were pushed back by security officers. The crowd responded by directing condemnation, physical violence and even accusations of treason and collaboration with Israel at the security officers.[4]
In addition to calls to revoke the peace agreement with Israel, the protesters also express support for Hamas, praise its military commanders Muhammad Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Abu Obeida, extol the October 7 attack and the armed struggle against Israel and call to expel the American ambassador from Jordan.[5] Calls of rebellion against the king have been heard as well.[6] At a demonstration in the city of Al-Zarqa, protesters sang a patriotic song in praise of the king while replacing his name with that of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida.[7] On March 30, there were violent protests in the vicinity of the Al-Baqa'a camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. The protesters started fires and threw stones, causing several of them to be arrested.[8]
The recent escalation of the protests in Jordan coincides with calls addressed to the Jordanian people by Hamas officials and by MB officials in Jordan and beyond, who urged Jordanians to escalate their protests and join the fight against Israel in order to "mingle their blood with that of the Palestinians," as Hamas' leader abroad, Khaled Mash'al, put it. Similar calls from Hamas officials to the people of Jordan were also heard at the beginning of the war in Gaza.[9]
This incitement of the Jordanian public by Hamas and MB officials enraged the Jordanian establishment. Initially, this establishment thought that adopting Hamas' rhetoric[10] would protect it from the public fury, but it seems that this tactic has been unsuccessful, and that Hamas' propaganda and incitement has weakened Jordan and today even threatens to destabilize the regime.[11]
Jordanian regime officials, including government spokesman Muhannad Al-Mubaidin, Senate President Faisal Al-Fayez and former information minister Samih Al-Ma'aita harshly attacked the Hamas leadership, accusing it of inciting the Jordanians against their regime, of populism and of political immaturity, and warned it not to continue this. Al-Ma'aita claimed that Hamas is trying to pressure Jordan to allow it to operate from its territory again, and called to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Hamas officials who do this, and of their families.
Jordan, it appears, perceives that Hamas' and the MB's incitement is carried out in the service of Iran, which seeks to overthrow the Jordanian regime and open up another front against Israel in Jordan. In the recent months there have been growing concerns in Jordan regarding subversive Iranian action within the kingdom, amid increasing attempts by elements controlled by Iran to smuggle drugs and arms into Jordan over the Syrian border. The January 28 drone attack carried out by Iran-backed militias in Iraq against a U.S. logistics support base in Jordan, in which three U.S. troops were killed, intensified these fears even further.[12] Moreover, on April 2, Abu Ali Al-Askari, an official of the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades, revealed operative plans to establish a Jordanian militia with 12,000 armed members that would be subordinate to the Iran-led resistance axis.[13] In response, Jordanian government spokesman Al-Mubaidin said that "Jordan is not interested in responding to militias whose hands are stained with blood and which are one of the reasons for the instability in the region," but that the Jordanian authorities are following this matter with concern.[14] Former information minister Al-Ma'aita, for his part, said that Jordan realizes that these militias are subordinate to Iran, which has been trying to infiltrate Jordan for 40 years, but clarified that Jordan has an army to defend it.
The Jordanian fury at Hamas, the MB and Iran also found expression in articles in the Jordanian press, which stated that the protests in Jordan are the product of a plot by Iran and the MB against the kingdom. A senior Jordanian journalist warned the MB not to cooperate with Iran's regional plan "that aims to eliminate any Sunni armed force in the region." Another Jordanian writer stated that Hamas' incitement against Jordan was meant to create chaos in the kingdom and that this is ingratitude on Hamas' part, hinting at Jordan's involvement in saving the life of Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al after Israel tried to poison him in Jordan in 1997.
Jordanian security officers face protesters near the Israeli embassy in Amman (Image: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, March 26, 2024)
This report presents the responses of Jordanian officials and journalists to the Hamas and MB incitement against Jordan.
Hamas Is Fanning Protests In Jordan, Encouraging A "Siege On The Enemy's Embassy"
As stated, amid the intensive protests that have recently been taking place in Jordan, especially the protests every evening in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman, on March 27 Hamas' military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, republished a short segment of the statement delivered by Al-Qassam commander Muhammad Deif about Hamas' October 7 attack. In the segment in question, he called on the Jordanians and others to join Hamas' war against Israel, saying: "O our people in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, the Arab Maghreb [i.e., North Africa], Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and all over the Arab and Islamic world! Start advancing on Palestine today. Right now, not tomorrow. Do not let the borders, the regimes and the restrictions deprive you of the honor of waging jihad and participating in the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."[15]
The same day, Khaled Mash'al, Hamas leader abroad, addressed the participants of an iftar meal held by the women's branch of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement. Speaking from Qatar, he said that Jordan is "a dear country, the country closest to Palestine, whose men and women are expected more than others to play a role" in helping Palestine. He added: "We continue to urge the nation to join the fray and mingle its blood with the blood of the people of Palestine, so that we gain honor and so that the conflict will be decided in our favor, Allah willing." Mash'al praised "the millions who have taken to the streets for the sake of Palestine" and called to encourage this and make it an ongoing activity, which has indeed occurred.[16]
Furthermore, in a March 29 meeting in Tehran between Hamas political bureau head Isma'il Haniya and Ziad Al-Nakhaleh, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the two called "on all the sectors of the nation to expand the circle of challenging the occupation by every legitimate means and to express fury [towards it]..." They welcomed "the growing efforts invested [in this] by the people, the religious scholars and the [political] parties in many Arab and Muslim countries, especially in the sister-country of Jordan, and the siege imposed on the enemy's embassy [in Amman]." They exhorted "the peoples and religious scholars of the nation to continue their efforts and activity and their national and Islamic role."[17]
MB figures outside Jordan also incited the public there. The Mufti of Libya, Sadiq Al-Ghariani, who belongs to the MB, ruled that the security forces in Jordan and Egypt "are not allowed to defend the Zionists," and that doing so doing "constitutes joining the Zionists and collaborating with them in killing Muslims."[18]
Jordanian Government Spokesman: The Incitement By Hamas' Officials Is Populism And Political Immaturity
The incitement by the Hamas and MB officials amid the escalating street protests in Jordan enraged the Jordanian regime. The online daily Rai Al-Youm quoted an official Jordanian source as saying that "several Hamas officials have violated the unwritten agreement [between us] and the movement's leadership, that its leaders will not directly address the [Jordanian] people or tribes.[19]
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, government spokesman Muhannad Al-Mubaidin condemned Hamas' incitement of the Jordanians and "the desperate attempts to disrupt our compass and our focus, as a state, [on the Palestinian issue]." He added: "We hope that the Hamas officials will strictly [confine] their advice and their calls to keeping the peace and encouraging our people in the Gaza Strip to stand fast. Jordan is a sovereign country with constitutional sources of authority... King Abdullah II spearheads the Arab position [on Gaza], and we will not heed [Hamas'] occasional [expressions of] political immaturity, nor those who want to gain popularity by exploiting the destruction that has befallen Gaza as a result of this disastrous war."
Al-Mubaidin went on to say: "The Jordanian position is honorable and moral, and we appreciate [the fact that] the people have come out to call for and demand an end to this war. This is not at odds with the position that Jordan has taken since the very first day of this war... [But] there are contemptable ideologies and populists that want to incite the [Jordanian] public by playing on its sentiments... This is bankruptcy on the part of the forces that want to malign Jordan's position or compel it to choose other options..." He ended by stressing that "peace is our strategic choice, and it is the peace agreement [with Israel] that allows us to play our role in easing the pressure on the people of the West Bank."[20]
Speaking with the Jordanian Al-Mamlaka channel, Al-Mubaidin said: "Since the beginning of this war, the Jordanians have taken to the streets in a national, honorable, responsible and law-abiding manner in order to express their support for the people of Gaza, but some elements want to hijack the [Jordanian] street in a populist way." He added that supporting Palestine requires Jordan to be "strong and united" and free of chaos, and denied that people who protest in support of Gaza are arrested and beaten, saying that those arrested are people who "wish to clash with the General Security forces, engage in extortion and fray [everyone's] nerves." The security forces, he emphasized, are only doing their job. "When protesters, men and women, start speaking disrespectfully to the General Security [officers], and provoke them with slogans and claims such as 'you are being paid to defend this [Israeli] embassy,' it is not representative of Jordan's men and women."[21]
Former Information Minister: Hamas Officials Should Be Stripped Of Their Jordanian Citizenship
Former Jordanian information minister Samih Al-Ma'aita, who is considered close to the regime, attacked the Hamas leaders sitting in Qatar and accused them of inciting the Jordanian tribes, and the people of Jordan in general, against the state. Their aim of these leaders, he said, is to harm Jordan and its security and pressure it to change its position on Hamas, so it would allow them to return to its territory – and all this while presenting themselves as controlling the Jordanian public. He therefore called on the authorities to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinians who incite against the kingdom: [22]
ince Hamas' October 7, 2023 terror attack, and against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, which has been ongoing for six months, Jordan has seen a surge in popular support for Hamas and hostility towards Israel, which are expressed in many anti-Israel demonstrations and in explicit calls to confront it and wage jihad against it.[1]
Recently there has been an increase in the size and intensity of these demonstrations, which are organized primarily by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Jordan. The protests take place throughout the country, but one of their main sites is around the Israeli embassy in Amman's Al-Rabia area, where thousands of young men gather every evening after the iftar (end-of-fast meal) to "besiege the embassy building."[2] The masses that participate in these protests call to revoke the peace agreement with Israel, sever the relations with it and open the border crossings between the two countries "in order to let the young Jordanians help their brethren in Palestine."[3] On several occasions demonstrators tried to break through the police barriers and reach the embassy itself, but were pushed back by security officers. The crowd responded by directing condemnation, physical violence and even accusations of treason and collaboration with Israel at the security officers.[4]
In addition to calls to revoke the peace agreement with Israel, the protesters also express support for Hamas, praise its military commanders Muhammad Deif, Yahya Sinwar and Abu Obeida, extol the October 7 attack and the armed struggle against Israel and call to expel the American ambassador from Jordan.[5] Calls of rebellion against the king have been heard as well.[6] At a demonstration in the city of Al-Zarqa, protesters sang a patriotic song in praise of the king while replacing his name with that of Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida.[7] On March 30, there were violent protests in the vicinity of the Al-Baqa'a camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. The protesters started fires and threw stones, causing several of them to be arrested.[8]
The recent escalation of the protests in Jordan coincides with calls addressed to the Jordanian people by Hamas officials and by MB officials in Jordan and beyond, who urged Jordanians to escalate their protests and join the fight against Israel in order to "mingle their blood with that of the Palestinians," as Hamas' leader abroad, Khaled Mash'al, put it. Similar calls from Hamas officials to the people of Jordan were also heard at the beginning of the war in Gaza.[9]
This incitement of the Jordanian public by Hamas and MB officials enraged the Jordanian establishment. Initially, this establishment thought that adopting Hamas' rhetoric[10] would protect it from the public fury, but it seems that this tactic has been unsuccessful, and that Hamas' propaganda and incitement has weakened Jordan and today even threatens to destabilize the regime.[11]
Jordanian regime officials, including government spokesman Muhannad Al-Mubaidin, Senate President Faisal Al-Fayez and former information minister Samih Al-Ma'aita harshly attacked the Hamas leadership, accusing it of inciting the Jordanians against their regime, of populism and of political immaturity, and warned it not to continue this. Al-Ma'aita claimed that Hamas is trying to pressure Jordan to allow it to operate from its territory again, and called to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Hamas officials who do this, and of their families.
Jordan, it appears, perceives that Hamas' and the MB's incitement is carried out in the service of Iran, which seeks to overthrow the Jordanian regime and open up another front against Israel in Jordan. In the recent months there have been growing concerns in Jordan regarding subversive Iranian action within the kingdom, amid increasing attempts by elements controlled by Iran to smuggle drugs and arms into Jordan over the Syrian border. The January 28 drone attack carried out by Iran-backed militias in Iraq against a U.S. logistics support base in Jordan, in which three U.S. troops were killed, intensified these fears even further.[12] Moreover, on April 2, Abu Ali Al-Askari, an official of the Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades, revealed operative plans to establish a Jordanian militia with 12,000 armed members that would be subordinate to the Iran-led resistance axis.[13] In response, Jordanian government spokesman Al-Mubaidin said that "Jordan is not interested in responding to militias whose hands are stained with blood and which are one of the reasons for the instability in the region," but that the Jordanian authorities are following this matter with concern.[14] Former information minister Al-Ma'aita, for his part, said that Jordan realizes that these militias are subordinate to Iran, which has been trying to infiltrate Jordan for 40 years, but clarified that Jordan has an army to defend it.
The Jordanian fury at Hamas, the MB and Iran also found expression in articles in the Jordanian press, which stated that the protests in Jordan are the product of a plot by Iran and the MB against the kingdom. A senior Jordanian journalist warned the MB not to cooperate with Iran's regional plan "that aims to eliminate any Sunni armed force in the region." Another Jordanian writer stated that Hamas' incitement against Jordan was meant to create chaos in the kingdom and that this is ingratitude on Hamas' part, hinting at Jordan's involvement in saving the life of Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al after Israel tried to poison him in Jordan in 1997.
Jordanian security officers face protesters near the Israeli embassy in Amman (Image: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, March 26, 2024)
This report presents the responses of Jordanian officials and journalists to the Hamas and MB incitement against Jordan.
Hamas Is Fanning Protests In Jordan, Encouraging A "Siege On The Enemy's Embassy"
As stated, amid the intensive protests that have recently been taking place in Jordan, especially the protests every evening in front of the Israeli embassy in Amman, on March 27 Hamas' military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, republished a short segment of the statement delivered by Al-Qassam commander Muhammad Deif about Hamas' October 7 attack. In the segment in question, he called on the Jordanians and others to join Hamas' war against Israel, saying: "O our people in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, the Arab Maghreb [i.e., North Africa], Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and all over the Arab and Islamic world! Start advancing on Palestine today. Right now, not tomorrow. Do not let the borders, the regimes and the restrictions deprive you of the honor of waging jihad and participating in the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."[15]
The same day, Khaled Mash'al, Hamas leader abroad, addressed the participants of an iftar meal held by the women's branch of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement. Speaking from Qatar, he said that Jordan is "a dear country, the country closest to Palestine, whose men and women are expected more than others to play a role" in helping Palestine. He added: "We continue to urge the nation to join the fray and mingle its blood with the blood of the people of Palestine, so that we gain honor and so that the conflict will be decided in our favor, Allah willing." Mash'al praised "the millions who have taken to the streets for the sake of Palestine" and called to encourage this and make it an ongoing activity, which has indeed occurred.[16]
Furthermore, in a March 29 meeting in Tehran between Hamas political bureau head Isma'il Haniya and Ziad Al-Nakhaleh, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the two called "on all the sectors of the nation to expand the circle of challenging the occupation by every legitimate means and to express fury [towards it]..." They welcomed "the growing efforts invested [in this] by the people, the religious scholars and the [political] parties in many Arab and Muslim countries, especially in the sister-country of Jordan, and the siege imposed on the enemy's embassy [in Amman]." They exhorted "the peoples and religious scholars of the nation to continue their efforts and activity and their national and Islamic role."[17]
MB figures outside Jordan also incited the public there. The Mufti of Libya, Sadiq Al-Ghariani, who belongs to the MB, ruled that the security forces in Jordan and Egypt "are not allowed to defend the Zionists," and that doing so doing "constitutes joining the Zionists and collaborating with them in killing Muslims."[18]
Jordanian Government Spokesman: The Incitement By Hamas' Officials Is Populism And Political Immaturity
The incitement by the Hamas and MB officials amid the escalating street protests in Jordan enraged the Jordanian regime. The online daily Rai Al-Youm quoted an official Jordanian source as saying that "several Hamas officials have violated the unwritten agreement [between us] and the movement's leadership, that its leaders will not directly address the [Jordanian] people or tribes.[19]
In an interview with Sky News Arabia, government spokesman Muhannad Al-Mubaidin condemned Hamas' incitement of the Jordanians and "the desperate attempts to disrupt our compass and our focus, as a state, [on the Palestinian issue]." He added: "We hope that the Hamas officials will strictly [confine] their advice and their calls to keeping the peace and encouraging our people in the Gaza Strip to stand fast. Jordan is a sovereign country with constitutional sources of authority... King Abdullah II spearheads the Arab position [on Gaza], and we will not heed [Hamas'] occasional [expressions of] political immaturity, nor those who want to gain popularity by exploiting the destruction that has befallen Gaza as a result of this disastrous war."
Al-Mubaidin went on to say: "The Jordanian position is honorable and moral, and we appreciate [the fact that] the people have come out to call for and demand an end to this war. This is not at odds with the position that Jordan has taken since the very first day of this war... [But] there are contemptable ideologies and populists that want to incite the [Jordanian] public by playing on its sentiments... This is bankruptcy on the part of the forces that want to malign Jordan's position or compel it to choose other options..." He ended by stressing that "peace is our strategic choice, and it is the peace agreement [with Israel] that allows us to play our role in easing the pressure on the people of the West Bank."[20]
Speaking with the Jordanian Al-Mamlaka channel, Al-Mubaidin said: "Since the beginning of this war, the Jordanians have taken to the streets in a national, honorable, responsible and law-abiding manner in order to express their support for the people of Gaza, but some elements want to hijack the [Jordanian] street in a populist way." He added that supporting Palestine requires Jordan to be "strong and united" and free of chaos, and denied that people who protest in support of Gaza are arrested and beaten, saying that those arrested are people who "wish to clash with the General Security forces, engage in extortion and fray [everyone's] nerves." The security forces, he emphasized, are only doing their job. "When protesters, men and women, start speaking disrespectfully to the General Security [officers], and provoke them with slogans and claims such as 'you are being paid to defend this [Israeli] embassy,' it is not representative of Jordan's men and women."[21]
Former Information Minister: Hamas Officials Should Be Stripped Of Their Jordanian Citizenship
Former Jordanian information minister Samih Al-Ma'aita, who is considered close to the regime, attacked the Hamas leaders sitting in Qatar and accused them of inciting the Jordanian tribes, and the people of Jordan in general, against the state. Their aim of these leaders, he said, is to harm Jordan and its security and pressure it to change its position on Hamas, so it would allow them to return to its territory – and all this while presenting themselves as controlling the Jordanian public. He therefore called on the authorities to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinians who incite against the kingdom: [22]
