Netanyahu vows to bring home embassy guard as crisis with Jordan deepens


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said that Israel was working to try to end a growing crisis with Jordan and to bring home an Israeli security guard who shot dead two Jordanians at the Israeli Embassy compound in Amman after he was attacked by one of them with a screwdriver.

Speaking in Jerusalem alongside Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Netanyahu said that he spoke twice with Israel’s Ambassador to Jordan Einat Shalin following Sunday’s incident, as well as with the security guard.

“I promised the security official that we will work to return him to Israel; we are already experienced in this,” he said. “I told the two of them that we are in constant contact with government and security officials in Amman at all levels, in order to bring as quick an end as possible to the incident.

The comments came as Jordanian officials said they would not allow the Israeli guard to leave or extend diplomatic immunity to him, threatening a larger diplomatic crisis over the issue, amid already sky-high tensions over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Some in Jordan have called for the guard to be tried and executed over the incident.

Netanyahu was expected to speak by phone later Monday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, while Israeli security officials have also been speaking to their Jordanian counterparts in an attempt to prevent tensions from deteriorating further after the incident, according to Israel’s Channel 2.
The prime minister said that Jordan’s ambassador to Israel met with Foreign Ministry officials Monday morning to help try to end the incident, which Netanyahu said Israel was working “responsibly and decisively” to solve.
“We are having discussions through a variety of different channels for one purpose — to end this incident, to bring our people to Israel. We are doing this responsibly and decisively,” he said.
Prior to the stabbing Sunday at the Israeli embassy compound in Jordan, ties were already strained between the two countries, with Jordan sharply criticizing Israel’s decision to place metal detectors at the gates to the Temple Mount, after two Israeli police officers were shot dead just outside the compound on July 14 in a terror attack by three Arab Israelis who used guns they had smuggled into the holy site.
The Temple Mount, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is administered by a Jordanian controlled Islamic trust, and Amman has been highly critical of what it perceives to be any changes to the status quo at the holy site.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the Israeli guard was stabbed by 17-year-old Mohammed Jawawdeh, who was in an embassy residence installing a bedroom set.
The guard opened fire on Jawawdeh, killing him and a second man, Bashar Hamarneh, at the site at the time in what the ministry said was “self-defense.”
Jawawdeh’s family said he was killed in cold blood and demanded the Israeli guard be executed.
On Monday, Jordanian officials told the al-Ghad daily that Jordan will not allow the Israeli security guard to leave the country and must hand him over to be interrogated over the incident, with one government source saying that Amman would escalate the diplomatic standoff with Jerusalem until he is turned over for questioning.

The Israeli security guard, who was injured during the attack, enjoys diplomatic immunity according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and is safe from arrest and investigation, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday morning.

In light of the diplomatic crisis, Israel’s security cabinet was set to meet on Monday afternoon to discuss the matter, after having convened for more than six hours overnight.









The Arab League will hold an urgent meeting on Thursday to discuss the escalating crisis surrounding Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, amid widespread unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The meeting was called by Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who on Sunday discussed the tensions with his Norwegian, French, German and Swedish counterparts.

In a series of tweets, Safadi said Jordan was working to “protect [and] restore calm” to the holy site in Jerusalem.

He said the metal detectors must be removed and the “historic status quo respected.”
An official from the Arab League told Jordan’s Petra news agency that coordination with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was underway on the issue of Jerusalem.

Deadly clashes have rocked Jerusalem since Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount after a July 14 terror attack in which three armed Arab-Israelis emerged from the holy site and shot dead two police officers standing at the Lions Gate, an access point to the compound.

Earlier on Sunday, the Arab League accused Israel of “playing with fire”by implementing the new measures at the site, saying that “Jerusalem is a red line,” and that “no Arab or Muslim will accept violations” against the city’s holy sites.
In a statement, Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit denounced the Israeli government’s “adventurism” and said its moves could trigger a “crisis with the Arab and Muslim world.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday also warned of intervention by the Muslim international community over the metal detectors and ensuing clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops.









In the wake of the growing violence, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem released a statement. Signed by the heads of all 13 Christian communities in Jerusalem, it condemned the recent escalation of violence at the Temple Mount, but did so in language that clearly favored the Palestinians and condemned Israel. The statement referred to the site by its Arabic names, disregarding any Jewish or Christian connection to the site.


“We, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, express our serious concern regarding recent escalation in violent developments around Haram ash-Sharif and our grief for the loss of human life and strongly condemn any act of violence,” the statement read.
The statement said that the violence was due solely to a change in the status quo, i.e. placing metal detectors at the entrances to the Temple Mount. 
“We are worried about any change to historical (Status Quo) situation in al-Aqsa Mosque (Haram ash-Sharif) and its courtyard, and in the holy city of Jerusalem. Any threat to its continuity and integrity could easily lead to serious and unpredictable consequences, which would be most unwelcome in the present tense religious climate.

“We value the continued custody of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy places in Jerusalem and the Holy Land which guarantees the right for all Muslims to free access and worship to al Aqsa Mosque according to the prevailing Status Quo.
“We renew our call that the historical Status Quo governing these sites be fully respected, for the sake of peace and reconciliation to the whole community, and we pray for a just and lasting peace in the whole region and all its peoples.”
The statement made no mention of the Muslim terror attack that led to Israel placing the metal detectors at the entrances to the site. Nor did it refer to the horrific Palestinian terror attack on Friday. 

Bishop Munib Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, said on Vatican radio that the metal detectors are a form of “collective punishment” which should not be permitted “because of an attack by two persons.”
The bishop claimed that thousands of Muslims pray at the site during Ramadan and “everything goes smoothly”. He did not mention the murder of IDF Border Policewoman Hadas Malkah, which took place during Ramadan.
“It’s essential to find a political solution to end the Israeli occupation, which is considered illegal,” the bishop concluded.