Israel Matzav: Jordan threatened to expel Israel's envoy

Jordan threatened to expel Israel's envoy

Jordan threatened to expel the Israeli ambassador in the event that police stormed the Temple Mount last week according to a report in the London-based pan-Arab paper Al-Quds al-Arabi.

According to the newspaper, tensions between the two neighbors flared as Jordan threatened to carry out the move, which the country said would be in response to Israel intervening in favor what it called Jewish extremists.

A senior Jordanian source told Haaretz last week that police must keep Jewish religious extremists away from the Temple Mount and keep the Old City's Mugrabi Gate closed. "That will calm the atmosphere while respecting the Jordanian role in Al-Aqsa Mosque," he said.

When Jordan was in charge of the Holy sites, only Muslims were allowed to enter. It was real peaceful then. Just ask Abdullah's grandfather, who was murdered on the Temple Mount in 1951.

Israel has attempted and continues to attempt to allow freedom of worship for all religions at the Holy sites. That includes the Temple Mount, which is also is holy to Jews. Although, as I have mentioned previously, I will not go there because my rabbi does not allow it until the Messiah comes, the notion that letting Jews go onto the Temple Mount (where they are forbidden from praying!) because it 'offends Muslim sensibilities' is simply unacceptable.

Besides, Jordan gave up all its claims to the Temple Mount and to Jerusalem when it gave up its claims to Judea and Samaria in 1988.

Israel Matzav: Jordan threatened to expel Israel's envoy