
Months after a deadly shooting incident adjacent to Israel’s embassy in Jordan, Israel is preparing to replace its ambassador to the Hashemite kingdom in a bid to placate its eastern neighbor and restore full diplomatic relations.
An Israeli diplomat said Wednesday that Israel was looking to replace Einat Schlein, the Jewish state’s ambassador to Jordan, in a bid to mend ties with Amman.
In July, a local Arab worker stabbed a security guard assigned to the Amman embassy.
The assailant, who stabbed the guard with a screwdriver while moving furniture into the guard’s residence, was subsequently shot and killed by the guard, who opened fire using his personal sidearm.
The stabbing attack and shooting took place in a property adjacent to Israel’s embassy in Amman, in a unit rented from a Jordanian man described as sympathetic to Israel.
During the incident, the owner of the property was struck by gunfire and killed.
While initially categorized as a terror attack on the embassy, local authorities claimed the initial attack was part of a business dispute between the embassy guard ant the assailant.
Massive anti-Israel protests were held in the Jordanian capital after the incident, with demonstrators demanding Israel surrender the wounded guard to Amman police for interrogation and prosecution – a demand repeated by senior Jordanian officials.
Israel refused the Hashemite kingdom’s demand, and despite the initial refusal of Jordanian officials to permit the return of the wounded guard and Israeli Ambassador Einat Schlein, the two were later allowed to return home.
Since Schlein’s departure from the embassy, however, Jordan has refused to permit the reopening of the embassy or the return of staff members, demanding that Israel prosecute the guard for the shooting incident.
Though it appears unlikely the guard will ever stand trial in Israel, Israeli authorities are reportedly offering to replace Schlein – a peace-offering to Amman in hopes that Jordan permits the reopening of the embassy.