09-May-22: No more excuses, Jordan [Guest Post]

Soldiers of Jordan Armed Forces and U.S. military service members
salute during playing of the national anthems at dedication ceremony

for expanded Jordan Armed Forces Joint Training Center
October 10, 2018 [Image Source]

[This guest post is authored by Bennett Ruda. His background is below.] 

Back in June 2020, it seemed as if the US had finally turned the corner on the issue of extraditing an Arab terrorist to the US for the murder of a US citizen.

Ahlam Tamimi is the confessed mastermind of the 2001 Sbarro massacre that killed 15 Israelis, including Malki Roth, who was also an American citizen. 

Jordan had a 1995 extradition treaty with the USwhich had already been honored by Jordan to bring Eyad Ismoil, a Jordanian citizen who assisted in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, back to the US. 

But in the case of Tamimi, the Jordanian courts claimed the treaty had not been ratified by the parliament and refused to hand her over. This despite the fact that, in 2017, a criminal complaint was unsealed against Tamimi in the US against Tamimi for conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals. 

But in 2020, it seemed that things were going to change.

During his confirmation hearing to be US ambassador to Jordan, Henry T. Wooster told Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that the US would apply pressure on Jordan to extradite Tamimi:

The United States has multiple options and different types of leverage to secure Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi’s extradition. We will continue to engage Jordanian officials at all levels not only on this issue, but also on the extradition treaty more broadly. US generosity to Jordan in Foreign Military Financing as well as economic support and other assistance is carefully calibrated to protect and advance the range of U.S. interests in Jordan and in the region.

Wooster added:

If confirmed, I would explore all options to bring Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi to justice, secure her extradition and address the broader issues associated with the extradition treaty.

This was the day before Jordan's King Abdullah II was scheduled to speak to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee via video.

Whatever was said during that meeting with the Jordanian ruler, nothing was done afterward to follow up on the promise to pressure Jordan to hand over the terrorist.

* * *

It is not as if the US does not have leverage. According to the US State Department website, the US is Jordan's largest provider of assistance, providing more than $1.61 billion in 2021 alone.

After lengthy negotiations, the US and Jordan signed a new defense agreement in January 2021, allowing US forces free entry into Jordan, including both aircraft and vehicles.

Islamist member of Jordanian parliament Saleh al-Armuti

And once again, as in the case of Jordan's extradition treaty with the US, the agreement was signed and approved without going through the Jordanian parliament:

Islamist lawmaker Saleh al-Armuti decried the lack of parliamentary oversight and called on the government to cancel the accord, claiming it “violates the constitution and affects Jordan’s sovereignty.” But [Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman] Safadi pushed back, saying the agreement “in no way affects Jordan’s sovereignty, and everything it contains is subject to Jordanian law and is compatible with international law.” [emphasis added] [Source: Al-Arabiya, March 21, 2021]

There is no indication the Jordanian courts are going to try to claim this agreement is invalid.

* * *

Clearly, Jordan needs the US both militarily and economically.

At a time when the US is struggling in the Middle East in competition with both Russia and China, a recent poll finds that the US has the inside track when it comes to Jordan.

According to the poll by David Pollock of the Washington Institute:

A modestly larger proportion of Jordan’s public says good relations with the United States are either very (18%) or somewhat (34%) important. This is roughly on a par with China, as has been the case in other recent polls. But the United States has a clear advantage over either Russia or China, or any other foreign nation, in several key subcategories. A plurality (43%) pick the United States as “the country that can best help protect us against our foreign enemies.“ A smaller plurality also see the United States as the outside power that “can best promote human rights and democracy in our country” (37%). [emphasis added]

Jordan's trust in the US is in sharp contrast with the Arab states in the Gulf who see themselves as abandoned by the US -- and facing the Iranian threat alone, with the help of Israel.

On the one hand, Jordan does not perceive Iran as a threat on the level that the Gulf Arab states do. According to the poll, only 17% of Jordanians responded that good ties with Iran were "somewhat important" and they are evenly split, at 47%, as to whether "a renewed nuclear deal with Iran" is good or bad for the area.

Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Kadhimi (R), Egyptian Pres Al-Sisi (L) and King

Abdullah II of Jordan (C) attend a Tripartite Summit in Baghdad, Iraq

June 27, 2021 [Source: Iraqi Prime Ministry Press Office/Anadolu Agency]

And just last year King Abdullah II met with Egyptian president Sisi and Iraqi Prime Minister Kadhimi to announce an agreement for transporting Iraqi oil via pipelines from Iraq to Jordan to Eqypt, where it will be taken to Europe via the Mediterranean.

But maybe Jordan is not that sanguine about Iran. It is making a point of forging ties with Iran, just as Saudi Arabia has opened up to the idea of talks with Tehran.

Writing for the BESA Center, Dr. Edy Cohen notes:

Because Iraq is a puppet state under Iran’s control, this agreement represents King Abdullah’s “coming out of the closet” with the Islamic Republic. Exporting Iraqi oil through Jordan to Europe is simply exporting oil controlled by Iran, which rules Iraq through its network of Shiite militias and controls the country’s resources.

The day after the announcement, Jordanian state media began promoting full financial cooperation with Iran.

In addition, there is talk of allowing up to one million Iranian religious tourists to visit the village of Kerak to visit the shrine of Jaffar Ibn Abu Taleb and according to the Jordanian press, Iran has proposed building an airport in Kerak.

Nevertheless, a Jordanian TV broadcast at the time warned of the dangers of allowing Iranians into the country as tourists.

Harold Rhode, a longtime former adviser on Islamic affairs in the Defense Department, agrees:

Rhode draws attention to how Tehran became the dominant force in both Lebanon and Syria. It seems to be using the same strategy to take over Jordan. In doing so, “Iran is attempting to surround Israel and Saudi Arabia further.”

At a time when the US is clearly making a point of supporting Jordan as an ally (unlike the Gulf Arabs), King Abdullah is playing with fire. 

By contrast, Jordan is anything but friendly with Israel, despite their peace treaty. In his poll, Pollock found that

Israel remains even more unpopular than Iran among Jordanians today. A mere 10 percent or so, young and old alike, have even a “somewhat” favorable opinion about the late 2020 Abraham Accords between Israel and four other Arab states (the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan). And the same very low percentage of Jordanians agree, a quarter-century after their own formal peace with Israel, that “people who want to have business or sports contact with Israelis should be allowed to do so.” 

* * *

The FBI wants Ahlam Tamimi but Jordan says no

But this is not an issue between Jordan and Israel. It is between Jordan and the US. 

While the US government has not publicly explained its reticence to enforce the treaty, the excuse offered by some is the concern that forcing the issue is too controversial, especially among those Jordanians with Palestinian roots. 

According to this theory, due to the popular support of Tamimi in Jordan, extraditing her to the US to face justice could lead to the fall of the kingdom.

The US consistently justifies aid to Jordan by claiming that Amman is a US ally in the Middle East. If that is true, then at the very least the US should be able to publicly address the issue of Tamimi instead of avoiding and ignoring it. 

In the fight against terror, the US has the opportunity to get a win. As an ally, Jordan should be willing to prove itself.

* * *

Our thanks to guest blogger Bennett Ruda who has blogged as Daled Amos since November 2003. His posts also appear on the Elder of Ziyon site as well as The Jewish Press. Bennett has been involved for some years in helping Frimet and Arnold Roth analyze and respond to government and other authorities in the context of the efforts underway to see Sbarro massacre monster Ahlam Tamimi brought to US justice.

27-Nov-14: When things are said about terror from both sides of one mouth, it pays to listen carefully

Even in an Internet-rich age, television continues to strongly influence what we know and think. And in places where access to a range of varying ideas and opinions is greatly limited, its role is even larger. The villages, towns and cities of the Palestinian Authority are a good example.

Here's a video clip (translated to English by the invaluable Palestinian Media Watch team) from their version of Good Morning, America (and Good Morning Australia, and Good Morning Tanganyika etc), the typical sort of light-hearted fare that people watch while grabbing some breakfast and heading out to face the day and its challenges. 

Only it's light-hearted in a very specific way that prevails in places where the values of terror and its attractions have become central to the way ordinary lives are lived.



The presenter in this show is Mai Abu Asab. Her program goes to air every Friday (weekend) morning under the name Good Morning Jerusalem. If we were fed a daily diet of this sort of messaging, we might not have the views about hatred, racism and terror that we do; many other rational and emotionally healthy people might react like us.

The channel is the one owned, operated and marketed by the government that runs the Palestinian Authority. The PA is the terror-friendly regime headed by Mahmoud Abbas, currently in the tenth year of his four-year presidential term. Abbas has our attention this week because of his gymnastic approach to juggling his public views on terror: unreservedly against it in English and strongly for it in Arabic.

Quoted (in Arabic) by Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. the PA's mouthpiece newspaper, on November 3, 2014, Mahmoud Abbas said

that Martyr Mutaz [who fired four bullets straight into the chest of Rabbi Yehuda Glick on a Jerusalem street in late October] from at point rose to Heaven while defending our people’s rights and holy places. In addition, he condemned this barbaric act, which is added to the occupation’s crimes against our people since the Nakba ("catastrophe", the preferred Palestinian Arabic term for the establishment of the State of Israel), as well as the continuation of the historic injustice being committed against it wherever it is present.” [source]

Quoted (in Arabic) again by Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on November 24, 2014,

It is a moral, national and religious right to defend Al-Aqsa and the places holy to Islam and Christianity. Our people oppose the thieving attackers who are supported by the government of Israel – the same [government] that has sabotaged the efforts to attain peace and is leading the wild campaign in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, seeking to strike any chance of obtaining security and peace between the two peoples on the basis of the two-state [solution]. I congratulate our people for their steadfastness in defending Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa. We are all ready to sacrifice ourselves for Al-Aqsa and for Jerusalem. [source]

Quoted in English by Haaretz on November 18, 2014, there's what appears to be a whole different approach:

Abbas' office said in a statement that "The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it" [but] "While we condemn this incident, we also condemn the aggression toward Al-Aqsa Mosque and other holy places and torching of mosques and churches," Abbas said at the start of a meeting of the Palestinian security services in Ramallah. Such attacks, according to Abbas, "violate all religious principles and do not serve the common interest we are trying to promote – establishing a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel." [source]

It's worth noting, as Khaled Abu Toameh did the same day, the background:

Abbas was forced to condemn the Har Nof synagogue attack after facing pressure from US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had phoned the PA president twice over the past few days to demand that the Palestinians stop anti-Israel incitement. On Tuesday, Kerry issued a call to the PA leadership to condemn the Har Nof attack. Kerry’s pressure prompted Abbas to issue two condemnations of the incident. The first came in the form of a terse statement published by official PA news agency Wafa, in which the Palestinian leadership condemned the “killing of worshipers in a synagogue and all acts of violence regardless of their source.” The statement also called for an end to “incursions and provocations by settlers against the Aksa Mosque...” In both statements, the PA leader sought to establish a direct link between the recent spate of terrorist attacks and visits by Jewish groups to the Temple Mount. [source] 

The latest phase in this peekaboo now-you-see-it-now-you-don't performance by Abbas' government comes with a PA TV program on Tuesday that declares the axe men of the Har Nof synagogue killings as heroes for the cause, referring to "the death of 2 Palestinians as martyrs from occupation police fire", conveniently and despicably ignoring the knives, axes and guns in the hands of the two Abu Jamals as they launched a ferocious attack on unarmed men at prayer.

To their great credit, many ordinary people in today's Palestinian Arab society continue - against all the pressures from their religious and secular leaders - to hold somewhat-independent views and to remain rooted in values that give hope... to them and us.

Here are some of those, based on a little-noticed (outside Israel) public opinion poll carried out for Israel's Channel 10 television station by Statnet (motto: "Discovering things you never expected"), an Israel-based research center headed by Yousef Makladeh (there's a self-promoting business video here for Arabic and Hebrew speakers).

Statnet focuses its attention on Arabs in the PA and Israel and unfortunately seems to publish almost nothing in the English language which, given the insights they have, is a pity.

The Jerusalem Post and a small handful of other Israel-based sources reported in the last few days on the poll's findings. Selected highlights appear in a number of other Israel-focused publications but take the results way out of their context, in our view. The survey, conducted in Arabic by phone a week ago, polled 405 Israeli Arabs from all parts of Israel but not east Jerusalem. 39% of respondents are men; 61% are women:

• 68% of Israeli Arabs opposes the ongoing "recent wave of terrorist attacks". The language of the Jerusalem Post report on the following breakdown is not clear (and we have not seen the original findings), but we think they go on to say that 88% of Druse oppose the terror; 80% of Christian Arabs, and 64% of Muslim Arabs.
• 77% of Israeli Arabs when asked to choose between two options said they prefer to live under Israeli rule rather than Palestinian Arab. Again, the Jerusalem Port report's language is not well expressed, but it seems to be saying that support among Israeli Arabs for living in an Israeli state is at the 70% level among Druse, 57% among Christian Arabs, and 49% among Muslim Arabs. But if that's right, then we have a problem understanding how the overall percentage gets to 77%.
• (This finding meshes with another by Prof. Sammy Smooha Haifa University whose annual survey, the Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel showed in 2013 63.5% of Arabs said Israel is a good place to live, while 20.9% were "willing to move" to "a Palestinian state".)
• As for preferring to live under the Palestinian Authority: 2% of Druse held that view; 5% of Israeli Christian Arabs, and 18% of Israeli Muslim Arabs.
• 84% of Israeli Arabs "support Knesset members who condemned the attacks in Jerusalem" and "16% opposed the condemnation of the attacks by Arab MKs"
• 81% of them believe Israel "is trying to harm the status quo on the Temple Mount".
• Again the language of the report is problematic, but it seems to say something emphatic about the sense Israeli Arabs have of living in a racist society: 42% say they suffer from "strong racism"; 44% from "moderate racism"; 14% from "light racism". Since those numbers add up to exactly 100%, it means there is not a single Arab living in Israel, including the majority who says he/she prefers living in Israel compared with the PA alternative, feels there is no racism. That might be, but it sounds suspect to us, especially when we take into account their attitude to how the State (not clear exactly what that means beyond the obvious) treats them: 9% say it "treats them equally"; 52% "semi-equally"; 39% "not equally at all". That also comes to a neat 100%. So if 9% feel they are being treated equally, are they also among the 100% who suffer from racism? Perhaps yes, but on this, the JPost report's language and formulation bothers us.
• 65% of Israeli Arabs blamed the conflict on "the Jews"
• And finally, a clear sign of the positive effect living in Israel has on its citizens: 63% of Israeli Arabs "do not trust Arab leaders in Israel". Unfortunately the survey report does not say whether the respondents were asked if they don't trust Israel's Jewish leaders. Or non-Israel-based Arab leaders.

Image: "Real Jerusalem Streets"

Readers wanting to do their own polling might consider standing in the center of Jerusalem, say at the busy intersection of King George Avenue and Jaffa Road (we know the corner only too well). 

As Jerusalemites know, since the Jerusalem Light Rail began running from Jerusalem's eastern neighbourhoods into the center and out to Mt Herzl, the number of Arab shoppers and pedestrians walking around, enjoying the cafes and the pedestrian malls, has risen substantially to levels that might surprise people from far away.

The image at right (young Arab females wandering around in the center of town) from the excellent Real Jerusalem Streets photo blog [here] illustrates the story.

10-May-13: Peaceful co-existence: Israelis and Palestinian Arabs believe in it to about the same degree. Not.

Pew Research Center announced yesterday (Thursday) the findings of a poll that shows Israelis generally believe an independent Palestinian state can coexist peacefully with their country. Palestinian Arabs, by contrast, overwhelmingly say this is not possible. When asked about the best way to achieve statehood, a plurality of Palestinian Arabs prefer armed struggle over negotiations or nonviolent resistance.

Americans who favour the Israeli side outnumber those preferring the Palestinian side by 53% to 14%. In the United Kingdom, the proportions are almost the reverse: 19% for Israel, 35% for the Palestinian Arabs. (In the UK, the proportion who say they are undecided is a whopping 22%.) In France it's 40% for Israel and 44% for the Palestinian Arabs; in Germany it's 28% Israel versus 26% Palestinian Arabs. 

When it comes to groups who don't sympathize with either the Palestinian Arabs or the Israelis, the standouts are Germany (31% prefer neither) and Russia (42% prefer neither)


83% of Israelis have a favorable view of the U.S. Among Palestinian Arabs, a mere 16% think the same.

15-Jan-13: Update on the Palestinian Arab Terrorism Index

All we are saying is give peace and machine guns a chance: Nablus, January 3, 2013 [Image Source]

What do people actually think?

Until better mind-reading technology is developed, the one way to gauge the opinions people hold is to ask them and to use proven survey methods to measure and understand the answers. Perfect? No, but it's hard to deny that professionally conducted surveys give us some insight.

The Palestinian Arabs have several active survey organizations that periodically test viewpoints and trends. One of the more prominent is the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), headed by Dr. Khalil Shikaki. His office put out a release on Sunday [online here] analyzing what it calls "Palestinian Public Opinion Poll No. 46". It contains a wealth of insights which have gotten very little coverage in the news media. This is a shame because, being a Palestinian Arab analysis of Palestinian Arab opinion, it would appear to be saying something worth hearing.

The analysis, carried out with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ramallah, covers a swathe of issues, and is certainly worth a few minutes of reading time. The old saying goes that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Even so, these findings, based on surveys done in December 2012 after the UN decision to make the Palestinians a non-member state, and following the ceasefire in Gaza, are real and well documented even if (as with all surveys) the analysis behind them is open to discussion.

We'll jump to the terrorism question. Asked (via Question 61) whether they support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel (code terms to mean "we are not asking you about Israeli soldiers" and "we are not asking you about attacks in the so-called occupied territories, but inside the pre-1967 borders") , responses fell into three groups reflecting each of the two Palestinian Arab regimes as well as both  taken together.

• Certainly support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - and live in Gaza: 23.7%
• Certainly support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - and live in West Bank: 10.5%
• Certainly support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - both Gaza and West Bank residents taken together: 15.5%

Let's call them the hard core. And the masses?

• Support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - and live in Gaza: 42.9
• Support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - and live in West Bank: 30.8%
• Support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel - both groups taken together: 35.3%

Add these together, and you get 66% of Gazan Palestinian Arabs, and 41.3% of West Bank Palestinian Arabs who support, or certainly support, armed attacks on civilians if they are Israelis and even if, presumably, they don't live in the "occupied territories". And even if (it follows) those Israelis are opposed to Israel being in the "occupied territories".

The report goes on to analyze Palestinian Arab support for terrorism - which is the plain meaning of deliberate, targeted armed attacks on innocent civilians - by various sub-groups. Palestinian Arab terrorism is

• more popular in the Gaza Strip (46%) than in the West Bank (39%)
• preferred by more men (47%) than women (35%)
• the choice of those who use the Internet daily (46%) compared with those who use it once a month (24%)
• overwhelmingly the preferred option of Hamas supporters (63%) compared with supporters of Fatah (25%).

And here's a show stopper for those who have still not absorbed one of the central lessons to be learned about terrorism and its proponents:

• Educated people, as measured by those who have a first degree from a university, give terrorism 47% support. Palestinian Arab illiterates give terrorism slightly less support: 39%
• Students support terrorism to exactly the same extent as bachelor degree holders do: 47%. But so-called simple folk - in this case, farmers, housewives, laborers, and retirees - give it less support: 30%, 34%, 35%, and 37% respectively. 

That Israelis overwhelmingly prefer peace to fighting ought to be beyond doubt. Sadly it's not, thanks to tendentious reporting and frequent distortions propagated in the media.

Sometimes these come from those who occupy the bedrock levels of terrorism's support structure: the Iranians for instance. Their PressTV newsagency published a report on Sunday headlined "Peace and Israel will never coexist". And sometimes, far more thoughtful but often no less damaging or even more so, you have published viewpoints like that of one of Israel's great contemporary cultural figures Amos Oz. 

Two years ago, Oz famously wrote that "peace will come, because a majority of both peoples want it" though he almost certainly knew this was only half right. Now he's quoted in The Guardian warning of Israel's slide towards apartheid. It's an analysis that makes a small amount of sense (not what he said but why he said it) when you see him as an activist for the beleagured, extreme-left Meretz Party and an advocate on their behalf in the current Knesset elections campaign. But in its content it's a shamefully mischievous and wrong statement that, along with many others like it, serves as a fig-leaf for the deep and significant admiration of terrorism as a strategy we find consistently expressed in surveys of Palestinian Arab opinion.

Getting to peace would go smoother and faster if the deep, generations-long addiction of Arab society to terrorism were to be addressed honestly and directly instead of papered-over and denied.

(About the Palestinian Arab Terrorism Index we mentioned in the title: it doesn't actually exist but perhaps it should.)