OPINION: Is Jordan ‘The New Gaza’ and Palestinian Terrorism Hub?

The only way forward for actual peace is a true partnership between Jordanians and Israelis to solve the Palestinian terrorism crisis.

The political scene in Jordan is hard to understand for anyone who’s outside of Jordan. For years the Jordanian government advertised itself as a moderate, pro-West, anti-Islamist, and liberal, which allowed them a flow of foreign aid that kept the regime standing.

But at the same time, you will read at the same outlets that describe Jordan as anti-Islamist that the biggest political party in the parliament is the Muslim Brotherhood! And this is the crueler reality that Jordanians are facing under the current government.

Jordan has 3 million Palestinian refugees that hold Jordanian citizenship and are very active in the political system. In a November 2023 poll, 90% of Palestinians (Jordanian citizenship holders) supported Hamas and had a favorable view of 7/10 terrorist attacks.

The support of Palestinian terrorism among Palestinians in Jordan wasn’t exclusively common only among Islamists, but it was visible in all shades of the Palestinian community in Jordan—even among politicians, businessmen, liberals, communists, etc. It was even present in the Queen’s interview on CNN when she was defending Palestinian terrorism only a few days after the Oct 7th attack.

For years Israeli politicians believed that if they expelled the Palestinians from Judea to Jordan and gave Palestinians more power in Jordan, the problem would be solved and Jordan would become Palestine, and the region would have complete peace. A wake-up call shocked the Israeli politicians after they noticed the massive support for Hamas among Palestinians in Jordan.

Even the liberal Palestinian politicians in Jordan, who used to visit Israel regularly and convinced a big portion of Israelis that if they helped them get more power in Jordan they would stop being antisemitic and would just rule Jordan as liberal, peaceful Arabs with no hatred toward the Jews, to the surprise of the Israelis, stood with Hamas and pursued the Jordanian government to take more hostile actions toward Israel—and they haven’t stopped since.

Maybe it was shocking for Israelis, but it wasn’t a surprise to me as a Jordanian. A Palestinian will always be a Palestinian, no matter where he was born or where he lives. We saw Palestinians in America, Australia, Canada, and all over the world stand with Hamas just because they successfully killed innocent Jews.

The reality is Palestinians raise their kids to hate the Jews no matter where they currently live, and that’s not going to stop anytime soon. Allowing the Palestinians to have power, access to weapons, and be on Israeli borders is a free invitation for another Oct 7th attack—but this time it’s from the east after Palestinians take over Jordan and share borders with Iraq, which is under Iran’s control.

The only way forward for actual peace is a true partnership between Jordanians and Israelis to solve the Palestinian terrorism crisis. Under the current government, Jordanians feel left out and discriminated against.

The current Minister of Interior in Jordan arrested over 60 Jordanian activists who spoke against Hamas and Palestinian terrorism on social media. 93% of the newly hired employees in the Ministry of Interior in Jordan are Palestinians. Jordanians are fed up with the current neglect they face from their own government and the Palestinian lobby that controls it.

For the end, this is a quick letter to Israeli citizens: the big, wide eastern safe border you share with Jordan will not stay safe if the Palestinian takeover of the Jordanian government doesn’t stop.

Keep in mind Khaled Mashal and the majority of Hamas leaders are all Jordanian citizens. They were born in Jordan, grew up there, but they will always see themselves as Palestinians and work on eliminating every single Jewish person from Israel in any way they can. It’s time to connect to Jordanians and work with them to defeat the shared enemy between Jordanians and Israel.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.