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Friday, August 09, 2013

Jordanian MP calls to kidnap Israelis; Israel protests; Jordan supports him

In early July, during a parliamentary debate, Jordanian MP Tareq Khoury called on Jordan to "kidnap members of the Israeli embassy in Amman or Israeli tourists visiting Jordan to get Israel to release Jordanian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails."

He said that such a move would be "an honorable precedent in the history of the Kingdom."

He added that the peace agreement between Jordan and Israel was a humiliation to Jordan because it doesn't protect Jordanian prisoners - which include mass murderer Abdallah Bargouthi.

Israel lodged a protest at these statements where a Jordanian MP demanded that Jordan violate international law and existing agreements with Israel.

Now Jordan responded - by telling Israel to shut up.

You see, Israel's protests are considered by Jordan to be an unacceptable infringement on its sovereignty. Furthermore, in the response it said that Jordan's constitution allows members of Parliament to say whatever they want.

They point out that the first article of the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan demands "respect for Jordanian sovereignty and the political independence of Jordan."

I had no idea that Jordan's independence is so weak that merely protesting someone's words endangers Jordan's political independence.

By the way, Article 11 of the peace agreement mandates "To abstain from hostile or discriminatory propaganda against each other, and to take all possible legal and administrative measures to prevent the dissemination of such propaganda by any organization or individual present in the territory of either Party."