The parliament of Jordan has voted to recommend the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to Amman in protest against the behaviour of a minister in Israel’s far-right government, who stirred controversy earlier this week after he denied the existence of the Palestinian people, reports Al Jazeera.
House of Representatives Speaker Ahmed al-Safadi called on the government to take action in response to Israel Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday said, “There are no Palestinians, because there isn’t a Palestinian people,” while standing at a podium adorned with a map that showed a fictional expanded Israel including all of the occupied Palestinian territory and Jordan.
The incident led to an angry backlash and the Israeli ambassador in Amman was summoned by the Jordanian foreign ministry to register its objections.
The governments of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates also issued statements condemning Smotrich’s words and actions.
On Monday, Jordanian officials said Israel’s national security adviser had told them that Israel respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbour.
The Jordanian parliament said that it was united in rejecting Smotrich’s comments, calling his actions a reflection of “Israeli arrogance”.
In his response to the parliamentarians, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister Tawfiq Krishan said that the fall-out from the incident had united Jordanians.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
