Israel’s Foreign Ministry has filed a protest with government officials in Amman and with the Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv after Jordan’s Minister for Media Affairs and Communications, government spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat was seen stepping on an Israeli flag.
שוב משבר בין ישראל לירדן-
משרד החוץ:
"ישראל מסרה מחאה חריפה בעמאן, ולשגריר הירדני בישראל.
הציר בשגרירות ירדן, זומן מחר לבירור הנושא במשה"ח בירושלים"שרת ההסברה ודוברת ממשלת ירדן ג'ומאנה ג'נימאת, הגיעה אתמול למטה האיגודים המקצועיים בעמאן ודרכה על דגל ישראל pic.twitter.com/3DBwEDEKFC
— שמעון ארן شمعون آران (@simonarann)
Jordan’s attache in Israel has also been summoned to Israel’s Foreign Ministry for a clarification.
“Israel delivered a strong protest in Amman and the Jordanian ambassador in Israel, the Jordanian embassy’s envoy, was summoned to clarify the issue in Jerusalem,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The incident took place at Jordan’s trade union headquarters, which painted the Israeli flag on the floor at the entrance to its headquarters and invited passersby to step on it on their way inside the building – a specific, deep insult to any nation and particularly in the Middle East.
Jordan’s Prime Minister Omar Razzaz had the good sense to avoid the issue by entering the building through a side entrance, a choice that earned him a firestorm of criticism in Jordanian media and a crowd of hecklers during his address at the headquarters, who accused him of “supporting the Zionist entity.”
Although Jordan has had a peace treaty with Israel for the past 24 years, the document has been less than popular in the country. The majority of the population is comprised of Arabs who lived in Mandate Palestine before 1948, and some of those Arabs who lived in Judea and Samaria prior to 1967.