Israel on Monday arrested Jordanian MP Imad al-Adwan on suspicion of smuggling over 200 guns and gold into the West Bank, the Times of Israel said citing Jordan’s foreign ministry.
Al-Adwan was arrested on Saturday at the Allenby Bridge border crossing. The member of parliament was headed towards Israel in a car. The Times of Israel said that around a dozen AR-15-style assault rifles and around 200 handguns were found.
Meanwhile, Israel foreign minister Eli Cohen said it does not hold Jordan responsible for al-Adwan’s actions.
“I don’t think that the episode is connected to Jordan in general, but to an irresponsible criminal act. I don’t want to assign guilt to the entire government or the entire parliament,” Cohen was quoted as saying by YNet
The Israeli authorities are yet to comment on whether these weapons were seized from Adwan’s car. The Israeli media could not publish further details due to a gag order on the case.
“The ministry and all relevant agencies in the kingdom are working to ascertain the details of this issue and address it as quickly as possible,” Sinan Majali, a Jordanian foreign ministry spokesperson, said in a statement to state media, news agency Al Jazeera said in a statement.
The Al Jazeera report also pointed out that Al-Adwan is a member of the Jordanian parliament’s Palestine Committee.
Relations between Israel and Jordan get strained due to tensions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Jordan warned Israel in December 2022 to not change the status quo of the Christian and Muslim sites of worship and said if Israel wanted a conflict, Jordan remained ready.
However, tensions erupted during the holy month of Ramadan when Israeli troops allegedly entered Al-Aqsa to confront alleged Palestinian rioters and were filmed allegedly beating some of them.
Both sides blame each other for sparking the tensions but tensions have been on the rise because a section of far-right Israeli political parties want to observe a Jewish ritual to observe the festival of Passover inside the mosque compound, creating frictions with the Palestinian Muslims who gather at the site to observe the holy month of Ramadan.
Several right-wing Israeli politicians have threatened to observe the ritual and in retaliation, Islamist groups like Hamas, who are in control of the Gaza Strip, often through social media urge Palestinian youth to prevent such acts, by all means necessary.
The development concerning the Jordanian politician also comes shortly after the clashes between Israeli law enforcement and Palestinians. This year the clashes occurred in the first week of April.
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