JORDANIANS TELL THE KING: WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH

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1. Mudar’s site had no videos of demonstrations in Jordan from October 2019 to July 31 of this year. Since last week, however, Mudar has been able to post videos of demonstrations, including at least a few with large crowds, almost every day. I don’t know why this hiatus happened. Perhaps the opposition ran out of money last year. I suppose it requires some money to organize demonstrations. Maybe the economic situation in Jordan is so dire that oppositionists felt they could not take any time off from work. Maybe the King had some key leaders arrested and jailed last year, making it hard to organize demonstrations until they were released or “replacements” could be found for leadership roles. Who knows. But clearly, opposition to the KIng remains widespread.

   There have been demonstrations against King Abdullah every year since he succeeded to the throne. The biggest, in fact, were in 2003, immediately after he succeeded his father Hussein as King. The people clearly were not happy with his succession, which happened only because a few days before his death, Hussein agreed to the demands of his wife that he replace his (Hussein’s) brother as Crown Prince with his wife’s son Abdullah. Obviously, the people expected and wanted the brother Prince Hassan, who had been heir apparent for many years and was an experienced statesman, to succeed to the throne, not Abdullah. The Israelis also much preferred Hassan, whom they regarded as a true friend of Israel and the broker of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty. Interesting that the Jordanian people and Israel agreed that Hassan should have become King, not Abdullah. Perhaps means that the Jordanian ” man the street” is not as hostile to Israel as the polls seem to indicate.

2. Wishful thinking