Jordan, a key US military partner and host to several American bases, delivered a dramatic symbolic rebuke to Israel by voting to erase the word “Israel” from its official parliamentary records. In a unanimous February 23 vote, MPs backed a motion by Hail Ayash during a heated debate over US Ambassador Mike Huckabee’s remarks suggesting Israel has a biblical claim to vast “Arab lands.” Speaker Mazen al-Qadi condemned these comments as a “blatant provocation” and a “serious breach of state sovereignty.” The move, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamic Action Front bloc, saw MPs label Israel an “enemy to every Jordanian,” call for the US envoy to be summoned, and urge replacing terms like “Israeli entity” with “usurping entity,” despite Jordan’s 31-year-old peace treaty with Israel and mounting regional fears of a wider Israel–Iran confrontation.
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