Jordan, on Monday, condemned the use of a map of Israel by an Israeli Minister that included the sovereign territory of Jordan, Anadolu News Agency reports.
The far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, addressed an event in Paris on Sunday while standing next to a map of “Greater Israel”, depicting Jordan as part of the self-proclaimed Jewish State.
In a statement, Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali called Smotrich’s action a “reckless provocation that violates international norms and the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.”
Jordan and Israel signed the Wadi Araba peace treaty in 1994, ending the war between the two countries since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
Israel was quick to reaffirm that it was committed to its peace agreement with Jordan.
“The position of the State of Israel, which recognizes the territorial integrity of the Hashemite Kingdom, has not changed,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
During his speech in Paris, Smotrich denied the existence of the Palestinian people, saying that the Palestinians were an “invention” from the last century and that people like him and his grandparents were the “real Palestinians”.
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Jordan “condemns the racist and extremist inflammatory statements made by the extremist Israeli minister against the brotherly Palestinian people, their right to exist, and their historical rights in an independent and sovereign state on the national soil of Palestine,” Majali said.
He called on the Israeli government to condemn Smotrich’s remarks, saying that Amman will take “all necessary political and legal measures to address extremist, hateful actions and statements”. The Jordanian spokesman warned that such statements “are a dangerous escalation that threatens security and stability.”
Smotrich sparked a storm of international criticism last month after he said the Palestinian town of Huwara in the West Bank should be “destroyed” following the death of two settlers in a shooting attack.
Israeli settlers attacked the town killing a Palestinian and vandalizing several houses and vehicles.
