One day after this happened, Jordanian state media began promoting full financial cooperation with Iran. This is as shocking to the Jordanian public as it was to the Egyptian public 40 years ago when then-president Anwar Sadat announced peace with Israel.
King Abdullah’s adviser, Zaid Nabulsi, a member of the newly appointed “king’s advisory board,” told the media, “Iranian religious tourism will breathe life back into Jordan.” Government-controlled media sites began speaking about one million expected religious tourists. Those are meant to visit the southern village of Kerak, 120 km. (75 miles) south of Amman, to visit the shrine of Jaffar Ibn Abu Taleb. In addition to that, the Jordanian and Arab press began speaking of an Iranian proposal to build an airport in Kerak.
Jaffar Ibn Abu Taleb was the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin who died fighting against the Byzantine Empire in Kerak. His shrine is considered most holy to the Shi’ite faith. Nonetheless, the Sunni faith generally bans visiting graves for worship and considers it an act of infidelity toward God, hence the shrine is mostly closed. Nonetheless, the king himself went for a visit to promote and help legitimize these future visits
It went further, with a monarchy-supported campaign to even promote the Shi’ite faith itself. This is what Iran did in both Syria and Iraq. This is exactly how it all began.
A Jordanian journalist known for his close ties to the Hashemite monarch, Mouafaq Mahadeen, appeared on TV two nights after the king’s visit and said “80% of Lebanon’s Shi’ites are originally from Kerak.” Jordanian media sites repeated that Iran was considering building an airport in Kerak. Old news stories resurfaced of Iran allegedly promising to supply the kingdom with free oil for 30 years
On July 3, Jordanian TV broadcast a show in which the speakers claimed it was not at all dangerous to welcome the Iranians into Jordan as tourists. This was in response to mutual threats and warnings issued by the leaders of the Palestinian majority of the country as well as the Bedouin native minority. Both issued messages to the king on July 1 warning him against bringing Iran into Jordan. In a normal situation, both sides would not dare criticize the king, let alone send him a warning.
There is no doubt that Jordan is suffering from severe financial hardship due to COVID, corruption, mismanagement, a lack of natural resources including shortage of water. The king of Jordan believes that opening the door to the Shi’ites will save his country from these crises. But as we have said, this will be a double-edged sword, and it will not take long for Jordan to sink into darkness just like Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen have. As for Israel, there is a fear of opening a front from hell, sending drones, or even digging tunnels in the areas bordering Jordan, which will be under the control of the Shi’ites.
Dr. Edy Cohen grew up in Lebanon and served for 15 years in the Israeli intelligence community. He is a researcher at the BESA Center who specializes in inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism and Jewish communities in the Arab world. He is author of The Holocaust in the Eyes of Mahmoud Abbas (Hebrew).