Mass rallies were held throughout Jordan over the weekend in memory of the terrorist Maher al-Jazi, who carried out the shooting attack at the Allenby Crossing earlier this month, in which Yochanan Shchori, 61, Yuri Birnbaum, 65, and Adrian Marcelo Podsmesser, 57, were murdered.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper reported that the rally in Amman was held under the title "We are walking along on the path of the shaheed Maher al-Jazi", and that the participants expressed their "pride in the shaheed Maher al-Jazi, their support for the resistance by all means and their solidarity with Gaza and the West Bank in the face of Israeli aggression, and called to follow his path in the confrontation with the ongoing Israeli aggression."
At a rally in Aqaba, participants expressed support for the "act of heroism" of the terrorist who "fought Zionism in support of the blood of the shaheeds in Gaza City".
Similar rallies were also held in Zarqa and Irbid provinces.
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry issued a weak condemnation of the terrorist attack at the Allenby Crossing, saying that the relevant Jordanian authorities “are closely following investigations into the shooting incident involving a Jordanian citizen on the Palestinian side of the King Hussein Bridge”.
Ministry spokesperson Ambassador Dr. Sufyan Qudah said that “preliminary investigations indicate the incident, which also led to the death of the shooter, was an individual act.”
The Ministry also reiterated what it said is “Jordan's firm stance in rejecting and condemning violence and the targeting of civilians for any reason, emphasizing the need to address the root causes and de-escalation measures that fuel such incidents.”
Jordan signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994 but many locals are against the treaty. In addition, the Jordanian parliament, which is made up mostly of Islamists, remains anti-Israel and its members have more than once called to annul the peace treaty.
The Jordanian parliament has in the past approved a proposal to establish a committee to re-evaluate all formal ties with Israel, including the peace agreement.
That decision does not necessarily mean that the peace accords with Israel will be annulled, as such a decision requires the approval of the government, the royal palace and the council advising Jordan's King Abdullah II.