Friends in Jordan

By: Abed AlMaala

Three days before fires broke out in Israel, we, in the Jordanian Opposition Coalition (JOC), received intelligence information that Jordan’s king’s intelligence desk, in cooperation with Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, were plotting “An unprecedented mother of all Intifadas”.

The information was confirmed by the JOC’s Office of the National Director of Intelligence.   While we usually and regularly pass such critical information to several friendly governments, our Secretary General, Mudar Zahran, felt the need to make the issue public quickly, so he posted the same information above on his social media accounts where he has tens of thousands of followers.  Shortly after, the fires began, and the information about who could be behind it and what happened began pouring on our intelligence unit.

To start, I am sorry for bringing you the bad news, but the “Firetifada” was not the most significant part of the “mother of all intifadas” to come, in fact, the JOC understands that it was only a prelude to it.

Per the JOC’s Shadow Secretary of Homeland Security, Naseem AlGheewan, there will be more attacks and the goal is “creating total chaos in Israel and getting global media and world leaders consumed by the unrest”.

And you may wonder, why would the allegedly “moderate” Jordanian king support such a thing? Additionally, you may ask: why would President Abbas risk so much by getting involved in this mess? To go one step further, why now?  After all, wouldn’t it be too risky to pull such a murderous stunt as the pro-Israel/no-Nonsense Donald Trump is about to become President?

The answers to these questions will help us examine just exactly what the real game is, and in fact what it has always been.

To start, I want to confirm that most of what you see and read in the American media about Jordan’s “so called” peaceful king is nonsense and represent the Yiddish term JOC’s Secretary General often uses to describe it: “Fakakta”, because the bottom line is this: The King is not peaceful, does not like Israel or Jews, is an utter dictator and is one of ISIS’ largest oil buyers (per CNN). To add insult to injury, his government has stolen US weapons and sold them rouge elements that hate Jews, Americans and the west, one of which were used to kill Americans in 2015. (per New York Times) Moreover, his government stole British weapons and sold them to ISIS (per the UK’s Daily Mail), cementing a full and documented and shameless alliance with them.

And to those insisting that the king just makes himself appear anti-Israel and anti-US to appease his subjects, I suggest you stop consuming political Kool-Aid and accept it: The king is doing what all dictators to: talking peace while promoting war; claiming moderation while supporting radicals; and working both ends against the middle in an effort to stay in power and squirrel away billions.

The true story is this: the king and Abbas are in bad shape politically, and the main reason is because of Trump’s unprecedented victory.  After watching him in the first few days, it’s clear that Trump won’t be lenient with Abbas’s and the corrupt Palestinian Authority, and will most likely seek to undermine it and limit its powers, if not dismantle it altogether. With that in mind, Jordan’s king and Abbas have become survivors that depend on one another – after all, if one goes, the other falls and vice versa.

Evidence of this premise is found in a speech presented by Abdulhadi Al-Majali, the king’s close confidant and political heavyweight, who has served as the king’s ambassador to the US, his army’s chief of staff, the speaker of the king’s parliament and remains the king’s most loyal official.  Al-Majali traveled from Jordan to attend the PLO’s conference last week in Ramadallah, and was quoted as saying: “The next four years will be very hard for us and for the Palestinian cause” and called for “an uprising” to save Palestine.

In the Middle East, the intelligence community and Jordan, it is well known that this so called ‘gentleman’ represents the king. In fact, what he said at the conference came from the king’s own speech (or at least the king’s thoughts).

In other words, it’s clear that Trump means trouble for the PA and therefore even deeper trouble for the Hashemite king.

As a result, it is ‘presumed’ that if Trump let’s Abbas go, then Abdullah follows.

So what problems does the king have with Trump? The king’s problem with Trump are deeper than anyone could even imagine.

For example, let’s start with the Muslim Brotherhood. Trump’s position – As well as other members of the cabinet – on the Muslim Brotherhood is simple: zero-tolerance.

This is very bad news for the king, because for years, he has been in full partnership with the Muslim Brotherhood.  And I am not talking about simple coexistence between the two. And we are not only looking at cooperation or simple tolerance. I am talking about full, comprehensive, extended, historical, ongoing, and flourishing partnership between the King of Jordan and a recognized terrorist group called the Muslim Brotherhood.

After the shock wears off, I can almost imagine the jaws of many of those in DC, Israel and Europe dropping as they read this, but facts are the facts: on the king of Jordan’s behalf, his former minister, Bassam Haddadin said it best: “The Muslim Brotherhood is a part of our regime”.

As the President Elect prepares to take office, his open determination to fight the Muslim Brotherhood means the king would have to shut them down or even ban them, even after he handed them 1/3rd of his new parliament.

In our opinion, this will decisively bring the king down, which Trump would not cry over – especially after he’s been briefed on the king’s theft of money, weapons and business dealings with ISIS.

To simplify things, both the king and Abbas are worried they might fall, even if Trump is not interested in toppling regimes. And it is quite clear by his cabinet appointments that he is definitely interested in seeing terrorist groups vanish from the face of the earth, and both Abbas and Abdullah are joined at the hips with terror groups.

The essential point is this: the JOC has solid intelligence information that Jordan’s king and Abbas are going ahead and launch with what can only be considered a mega intifada with a two-fold purpose. First, it will keep Trump busy fixing the self-induced problem. Second, they believe that Trump will be forced to return to where things were before the intifada by empowering Abbas and Abdallah.

What’s scary is this: if both keep up the Intifada for two or possibly three years, then they will have survived Trump’s first term.

To support this collusion between the two, the JOC has confirmed that the King’s Intelligence Desk and Abbas have had firsthand involvement in the “Firetifada”, and have done this through 3rd party operators: Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood and its military branch, Hamas, as well as some of the king’s loyalists in Hebron, East Jerusalem residents and a variety of Arab Israelis who have been recruited by the king’s intelligence and can only be considered bad apples.

For those who think this is far-fetched propaganda, I would like to take one last moment to remind you of something that JOC’sSecretary General – Mudar Zahran – has warned the world about, months before the so-called Knife Intifada began – In both the social and regular media, he predicted in writing that there will be an “Intifada that will target Jerusalem”, “and that this intifada would be launched from Al-Aqsa/Beit HaMekdsh”. In rounding out the prediction, he stated that “Jordan’s king and Abbas would collude and unite behind it because they will profit politically from it”.

Sadly, the intelligence information Zahran had then all came true.

With the dominoes stacking up against Jordan’s king, its time that the United States, Israel, and all peace-seeking people see Abdullah for what he is: a threat to all of us that must be let go through peaceful means.

Abed AlMaala

About the Author: Abed Almaala is the deputy Secretary General of the Jordanian Opposition Coalition.