Jordan: Deputy PM says Israel bears full responsibility for regional escalation

Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates insisted on Tuesday that Israel bears full responsibility for the dangerous escalation being witnessed in the region. Ayman Safadi also noted the need for the international community to take deterrent steps to curb the occupation state’s aggression and protect the region from its far-right government’s agenda.

Safadi stressed that Israel is pushing the entire region into the abyss of a regional war by continuing its aggression on Gaza, violating international laws and conventions and attacking the sovereignty of independent states. He pointed out that the dangerous escalation will not stop unless the international community forces Israel to stop its aggression on Gaza, abide by international law, and halt all its escalatory measures that fuel regional tension and deprive the region of its right to live in security and peace.

The Israeli prime minister, said the senior Jordanian official, wants to drag the region towards a widespread escalation on multiple fronts driven by a blatant desire for revenge and extremist ideology. Without effective international action to curb this aggression, Benjamin Netanyahu will impose more wars and conflicts on the entire region, he said.

It is Netanyahu who has undermined efforts to reach a deal leading to a ceasefire by assassinating the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who was the movement’s main representative in the negotiations, explained Safadi. International deterrents need to be in place to stop him undermining efforts to reduce escalation, he added.

The Jordanian official made his comments in phone calls to a number of his international counterparts, in the context of the Kingdom’s efforts to mobilise an international position to end the Israeli aggression in Gaza. They included the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar; the US Secretary of State and the Foreign Ministers of Russia, China, Italy, Egypt, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Cyprus and Sweden, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

READ: Jordan, Iran discuss ‘dangerous’ escalation in region