Judeh praised on social media for defence of Al Aqsa

AMMAN — The recent diplomatic embarrassment for Israel with Jordan has been the talk of the town on social media.

Thursday, in a clear breach of protocol, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely interrupted Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh during his address in a meeting for donor countries to the Palestinian Authority, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

One person in the room said that the meeting’s chairman, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende, had to call Hotovely to order twice, Israel Haaretz reported. 

According to The Guardian, the confrontation started after Hotovely's address in which she attacked Palestinians defending the holy shrine. 

According to reports, Hotovely said: “The conflict will be resolved when the basic values of the Palestinian Authority change. As long as Palestinian children dream of becoming engineers to blow up Jews’, none of these economic efforts will achieve their goal.”

She also criticised the address to the UN made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accusing him of incitement when he spoke of Israelis defiling Al Aqsa Mosque with their boots, reported the Guardian. 

Replying to Hotovely, Judeh, set aside his own speech. “I have a written address but I do not plan to give it because I cannot not respond to what we have heard from the Israeli representative,” he said, according to the Guardian. 

Referring to recent Israeli aggressions at the religious site, Judeh said that when Israeli soldiers enter Al Aqsa with boots on, it offends the 1.5 billion Muslims across the world and is liable to set off a religious war. He added sarcastically that Jordan cannot “take Israel’s security interests more seriously than Israel itself”, said Haaretz.  

According to The Jerusalem Post, the diplomat accused Judeh of “distorting history” and of following in the footsteps of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in denying the existence of a Jewish temple at the holy site, said the Guardian. 

Although the incident was circulated by many media outlets, The Jordan Times could not reach officials at the Foreign Ministry to confirm the incident. 

However, the ministry retweeted some details of the argument through its official Twitter account.

The incident caught the attention of many people on social media, who deemed it a “triumph over the arrogance of Israel”.

“Judeh represents the Jordanian foreign policy, [whose] stance [has] always been in support of the Palestinian issue. The country, its King and nation have never let go of Palestine and its people,” said Maisara Alkam on Facebook. 

Abbas Bani Salameh also praised the “courage” and “political eloquence” of the minister in responding to the Israeli representatives’ remarks. 

On the other hand, some commentators said they had hoped for a “more courageous stance”.

“We expected Judeh to threaten Israel by expelling its ambassador in Jordan or reconsider[ing] the Wadi Araba Treaty,” said Ali Mustapaha.

Salah Awamleh described the incident as a “very normal reaction for Jordan over the atrocities committed against Palestinians”, saying that “Judeh’s response should have been tougher”.