Symbolic Expulsion
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Jordanian lawmakers voted this week to recommend the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador in protest against comments by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about Palestinians, Al Jazeera reported.
Last week, Smotrich caused a furor during a private memorial service in France, where he said that Palestinians were “an invention” from the last century and that people like himself and his grandparents were the “real Palestinians.”
The minister added there was “no such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as the Palestinian people,” according to the Times of Israel. Smotrich’s comments came as he was standing by a map of “Greater Israel” that included the occupied Palestinian territory and parts of Jordan.
The incident sparked outrage from a number of Middle Eastern nations including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, which like Jordan, have diplomatic relations with Israel.
In response, Israel’s foreign ministry sought to ease tensions by saying that it respected Jordan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The two countries signed a peace treaty in 1994 following the Arab-Israeli war that began in 1948.
Meanwhile, analysts said the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to Jordan would require approval from the Jordanian government, which is unlikely to happen.
They added that such votes are symbolic and common during times of heightened tensions between Jerusalem and Amman.
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