AMMAN, Jordan: Jordan's deputy prime minister has lashed out at Israel over its massive offensive in northern Gaza, describing is as "inhumane."
Late Saturday night an Israeli airstrike killed 87 people and wounded scores more in a heavy bombardment of residential complexes in the town of Beit Lahiya.
"The horror Israel is bringing on the entire population of northern Gaza is inhumane," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi said Sunday in a statement released by the Jordanian news agency Petra, and posted o his X account.
"It is pure evil and a war crime that humanity should not tolerate. This massacre should be faced with a decisive international action to stop it immediately, including through imposing an arms embargo and effective sanctions."
"Israel is starving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, bombing entire neighborhoods out of existence, burning displaced children in tents, and destroying hospitals. It is brutally terrorizing the whole population to push them out of their homeland. The Security Council and all members of the international community should not allow this barbaric crime to continue for one more minute," Safadi said,
"Failure to stop this massacre is a shame on the whole international community. The Israeli government is continuing with its inhumane war crimes because the world is allowing it to. The impunity must end."
He further added that "Israeli occupation forces should not be allowed to burn any more Palestinian children alive, should not be allowed to commit any more murders, and destroy any more schools or hospitals," Jordan's deputy prime minister said.
"There is no justification for the failure by the international community and its institutions to protect the innocent, stop the ethnic cleansing, implement international law, and ensure justice," he added.
Jordan has been vocal in its support for the Palestinians long before the past year's hositiies began on the day of the Hamas-triggered attacks against Israel on 7 October 2023. However it has walked a tight line as the country has diplomatic ties with Israel, and was the second nation, after Egypt, to cement ties. That was in 1994.
Soon after the 7 October attacks and the intensive Israeli retaliation began, on 1 November 2023, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel, and prevented Israel's ambassador, who had left Amman for Israel following the 7 October attacks, from returning.
The country, and in particular King Abdullah, and even more so Queen Rania, have been relentless in their criticism of Israel's offensive in Gaza, and in the West Bank. However in April this year Jordan joined other allies of Israel in defending the Jewish state by intercepting a number of drones and other projectiles dispatched by Iran towards Israel.
Meantime in Washington, U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham says he is continuing to work with President Biden on forging a Saudi-Israel alliance, which Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says will not occur without the establishment of a Palestinian state. Graham, who has met with the crown prince says this is not so, and talks are ongoing.
Bahrain and the UAE forged ties with Israel in September 2020 during the Trump Administration in what became known as the Abraham Accords. Morocco soon following by normalizing relations in December that year. Bahrain has since recalled its ambassador from Israel.
"What Gaza has done is set back any Israeli integration into the region," Ali Shihabi, a Saudi businessman who is close to the monarchy and sits on the advisory board of Neom, a futuristic city project set up by Crown Prince told The New York Times in an article published on Sunday. "Saudi Arabia sees that any association with Israel has become more toxic since Gaza, unless the Israelis change their spots and show a real commitment to a Palestinian state, which they have refused to do," he said.
"The Abraham Accords were cosmetic; there was nothing substantive about them when it comes to a real, enduring regional peace agreement. Many of the states that signed on did so because they see Israel as a path to influence in Washington," Mr. Shihabi said.
"But now we see that the U.S. has no power or influence over Israel - to a humiliating degree," he added, "and that the Israelis have no intention to create a Palestinian state."
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