Jordan Reiterates: Israeli Embassy to Remain Closed Until Security Guard’s Trial

Israel’s embassy in Jordan is still closed, and will remain so, said Mohammed al-Moumani, Jordan’s Minister for Media Affairs. That state of affairs will continue until Ziv Moyal, the security guard who killed two Jordanians defending himself from a terror attack in July, is put on trial. Al-Moumani said that Moyal is a “murderer” and must be tried on murder charges.

The incident in July that resulted in a diplomatic brouhaha took place at an apartment rented by the Israeli embassy in Amman, in which Ziv Moyal, a security guard at the embassy, was attacked by a terrorist. Moyal defended himself, shooting the terrorist. The terrorist later died of his wounds, as did the owner of the apartment. In the wake of that incident, mass riots were held in Amman against Israel, demanding that Moyal be turned over to Jordanian authorities for trial. Jordanians rioted, and demanded that their government “punish” Israel by ripping up the 1994 peace treaty signed by the two countries. The Israeli diplomatic staff was instructed to leave, and has not returned since.

Jordanian officials said that they found especially upsetting a meeting between Moyal and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu upon the return of the guard to Israel. Netanyahu embraced Moyal and promised to ensure his protection. The prime minister told Moyal that he was “happy to see you, and happy that things worked out. You acted appropriately — logically and with determination. We had an obligation to bring you home, and we did.”

In an interview with Sky News after the incident, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman a-Safadi criticized that meeting, calling it “shameful and unacceptable. Any reception for this man should have been much more low-key.” He stressed that the Israeli ambassador would not be allowed back into Jordan until Moyal was put on trial for “murdering” two Jordanian citizens.