Jordan Threatens to Revoke Peace Treaty Over Temple Mount

Jordan’s government has threatened to revoke its 1994 peace treaty with Israel after the Temple Mount was temporarily closed to both Jews and Muslims on Thursday, in an attempt to calm tensions after an Arab terrorist shot Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick.

Mohammed Al-Momani, Jordan’s Minister of Media Affairs and Communications and spokesperson for the Jordanian government, said the peace treaty is “under threat” if Israel continues “breaching” the status of the Temple Mount, Arabic-language Sky News reported, as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth.

He also threatened that Jordan had put together a plan to oppose the Israeli “breaches” on the Temple Mount and eastern Jerusalem.

The Jordanian minister criticized how Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu folded to Jordanian pressure and said he would keep the discriminatory status quo of the Temple Mount, but nevertheless closed the site on Thursday.

The closure on Thursday has already led Jordan to call Israel a “terrorist state,” and despite the threat of riots and violence, police folded to the international pressure from Jordan, the US and other sources and allowed limited access on Friday – for Muslims only.

This is far from the first time Jordan has threatened to revoke the peace treaty.

Back in February, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur threatened to pull the treaty if the Knesset were to continue advancing a bill to allow Jews to pray on the Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) has forbidden such prayer.

It isn’t even the first time this week Jordan has made such a threat, as Jordan’s ambassador to Israel Walid Obeidat on Sunday threatened the agreement was in danger after indications that Netanyahu might lift his covert freeze on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria.

Under Jordan’s auspices, the Temple Mount has been the scene of anti-Semitic graffiti, the destruction of Jewish artifacts, and constant violent Arab rioting, which Jordan has condemned Israel for trying to stop.

Jordan has also been pushing in the UN Security Council to advance the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) “diplomatic war” demanding Israeli withdrawals through unilateral moves.