MEMRI
Recently, ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, there have been many reports that the U.S. administration intends to promote the establishment of a NATO-like military alliance in the region in order to confront various security threats, chief of them Iran. According to the reports, this alliance is meant to include the moderate Arabs states, among them Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan, as well as Israel, and will be discussed at the July 16 summit in Jeddah between Biden and by the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.
So far, no official from any of these countries has addressed the issue, with the exception of Jordanian King ‘Abdullah II. Asked whether Jordan would join such an alliance in an interview on the American CNBC network, the King said: “I would be one of the first people that would endorse a Middle East NATO. But the vision of such a military alliance must be very clear, and its role should be well defined. The mission statement has to be very, very clear. Otherwise, it confuses everybody.”
The King’s statements, which were understood in the media as an expression of Jordan’s willingness to join a military alliance against Iran that would include Israel, evoked many responses. Apparently sent to clarify the King’s statements, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi denied this, telling Al-Jazeera on June 28 that “there has been no discussion of a military alliance of which Israel is a part, and we have heard no such proposal to date.” The King, he explained, had expressed Jordan’s keenness to support any proposal for organized and joint Arab action to address challenges such as terror, food security and economic security.
Articles and analyses in the Jordanian press assessed that an Arab alliance will soon be formed to confront the existential threats facing the region and the world, including the threats posed by the Iran-backed militias in the region and by Israel, as well as the energy and food crises caused by the war in Ukraine and the changes in the international arena.
Many other articles in the Jordanian press expressed strong opposition to Jordan’s participation in a military alliance with Israel. The authors of the articles, who included Jordanian former ministers, newspaper editors and senior journalists, stated that Jordan has no interest in joining such an alliance with Israel, which threatens Jordan’s interests in the context of the Palestinian issue and Jerusalem and is a source of trouble and concern in the region. Despite the peace agreements signed by several Arab countries with Israel, they said, the latter “was and still is the criminal enemy of the Arabs,” and no world power will compel the Arabs to form a military alliance with it until it respects the Palestinians’ rights. One of the writers, former information minister Samih Al-Ma’ayta, stated that the Jordanian establishment was well aware of the public’s opposition to ties with Israel and would therefore avoid entering into an alliance with it. He added that, although Jordan opposes Iran’s policy in the region, there is a big difference between this and preparing to start a war with it. Others wrote that, amid the food and energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, it is the economic challenges that are currently at the top of the agenda, and it is paramount to promote economic integration among the Arabs, rather than a military alliance against Iran.
This report reviews some of these articles.
Former Jordanian Information Minister: Jordan Is Troubled By Israel’s Policy, Should Avoid A Military Alliance With It
In a June 30, 2022 article on the Ammonnews website, Former Jordanian information minister Samih Al-Ma’aita wrote: “…The King announced recently that he supports the establishment of a NATO-like alliance in the Middle East, as long as its objectives are clearly defined. Many people asked explicitly whether Israel would be part of this alliance. But the question that needs to be asked is whether it is [at all] possible to form an alliance in this region with a clear mission and comprising like-minded members [as the King said]. Some may believe that the war against Iran is an objective shared by many countries in the region, including Israel, and that a military alliance against Iran is bound to be established. But the most important question is which countries are interested in launching a war against Iran, and the answer is that nobody wants to fight Iran, not even Israel and the U.S.
MEMRI TV Clip No. 9673
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