An unprecedented attack took place at the King Hussein Bridge, one of the two main border crossings between Jordan and Israel, when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire and killed three Israeli border guards. The driver was also killed in the attack at the Karameh border crossing, also called the Allenby Bridge.
A few hours after the attack was carried out, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority announced that it identified the shooter as Maher Al-Jazi (39 years old), from the southern Jordanian governorate of Ma’an. Jordan’s Ministry of Interior also confirmed the identity of the attacker, and clarified that he was driving a truck that was transporting goods from Jordan to the occupied West Bank, when he launched the attack, which the ministry described in a statement as an “individual act”.
The statement also indicated that the ministry was coordinating with the concerned Israeli authorities to retrieve the body of Al-Jazi in order to be buried in Jordan.
Israeli and Jordanian authorities announced that they closed the border crossing from both sides until further notice, and that a joint investigation is underway to unveil the circumstances behind the attack.
The official stance of the Jordanian government on the incident appears to be extremely distant from that adopted by the Jordanian people. Once the news of Al-Jazi’s operation spread widely through international media outlets, Jordanian people across the country took to the streets celebrating their countryman’s exceptional attack. They also performed a massive absentee funeral prayer honoring Al-Jazi, who descends from one of the biggest families and clans of Al-Huwaitat tribe, which encompasses over quarter of a million Jordanian citizens.
Maher Al-Jazi evoked the legacy of late Jordanian Military Commander Mashhour Hadeetha Al-Jazi in the consciousness of Jordanian grassroots. Mashhour Hadeetha have gained unrivaled popularity among Jordanians, who attribute the victory in Al-Karameh Battle, in which the Jordanian Army defeated Israel in 1968, with the assistance of Palestinian resistance fighters, known as Al-Fedayeen during that era.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran for inciting the attack during a cabinet meeting on Sunday. “We are surrounded by a murderous ideology led by Iran. The murderers want to kill all of us, without differentiating between left or right-wing views, religious or secular, Jews or non-Jews,” Netanyahu commented.
Palestinian factions hailed the attack considering it a retaliatory act against the Israeli genocidal aggression on the Gaza strip, which started on October 7, 2023. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas highlighted that the attack represents the Arab world’s broader rejection of the Israeli occupation and its aggressive ambitions in Palestine and Jordan.
Moreover, Abu Obeida, who is the military spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, praised the attack stating that Al-Jazi is “one of the heroes of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation.”
“The Jordanian hero’s handgun, in defense of Al-Aqsa and the Palestinian people, proved to be more effective than large armies and vast military arsenals,” Abu Obeida added, referring to the armies of the Arab countries, which remained unmoved by the massacres taking place in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement described the shooting operation as “the only response that the American administration, a partner of the criminal entity in its genocidal war against our people in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, understands.” Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hailed Al-Jazi describing him as a brave Jordanian youth who embodies the conscience of every Arab youth.
As Israel has the longest borders with Jordan, Al-Jazi’s attack has raised concerns of the Israeli military that a new front has been added to its multiple war fronts in the region including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the northern borders with Lebanon, and the Red Sea in the south due to continuous attacks by Yemen’s Ansar Allah. The incident is considered a milestone as a regional war has been looming since last July, after Iran vowed to retaliate against Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Moreover, the shooting attack at the border crossing came a couple of days prior to the parliamentary elections in Jordan, which may also cast a shadow on the results of votes.
