Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich receive a briefing from military officials on the border with Jordan, Sept. 11, 2024. Photo courtesy of Kobi Gideon/GPO.
Jerusalem will work with Jordan to strengthen the Jewish state’s eastern frontier to maintain “peace and security” in the border area, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday, Sept. 11, amid a rise in terrorism throughout Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
“We are fighting on multiple fronts,” Netanyahu said during a visit to the border with the Hashemite Kingdom, speaking alongside Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian issues in Judea and Samaria. “In this multifront battle, we know we need to secure our eastern border with Jordan. It is a border of peace,” he continued. “We cooperate with the Kingdom of Jordan to ensure that it remains so.
The premier noted that “challenges are increasing” as Iran, and its terrorist allies are increasingly using the porous border to smuggle weapons and know-how into Judea, Samaria and Israeli cities. “We will work to erect a stronger barrier here to stop smuggling attempts. We do it in coordination with our neighbors. We must ensure that this border remains a border of peace and security,” he concluded.
As part of the visit, Netanyahu and Smotrich received an operational briefing from IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth and Jordan Valley Brigade commander Col. Aviv Amir, the prime minister’s office announced.
‘Death To Israel!’
On Sunday morning, Sept. 8, a Jordanian terrorist murdered three Israeli border guards at the Allenby Bridge border crossing. Following the attack, all three land crossings between Israel and Jordan were briefly closed. Amman’s foreign ministry condemned the incident some 14 hours later, denouncing the “targeting [of] civilians for any reason” while accusing Jerusalem of “escalatory steps” that provoked the terrorist shooting.
On Sunday evening, thousands of Jordanians rallied in support of the slain terrorist in Amman. According to pictures posted to social media, protesters hoisted signs that read in Hebrew, “Death to Israel!” They also chanted “Mohammed Deif is still alive,” referring to the commander of the so-called “military” wing (the Al-Qassam Brigades) of Hamas, who was killed in an Israeli Air Force strike on July 13.
Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, but the kingdom has a majority Palestinian population and its government has taken an increasingly hostile tone since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 people in southern Israel and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
On Nov. 1, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel and told Jerusalem not to return its ambassador to Amman. Jordan’s foreign ministry said that the move was a protest against the “raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is … causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
New Iran Infiltration?
According to official assessments, around 600 people enter Israel illegally from Jordan every month. By comparison, in all of 2023, security forces arrested fewer than 90 infiltrators from Jordan.
The eastern frontier with Jordan extends 192 miles, making it the Jewish state’s longest border. There is mounting concern in Israel’s security establishment that pro-Iranian elements could attempt to penetrate the border to commit a mass attack similar to the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre. The military is working to prevent such a scenario, including by reinforcing its troops.
Another situation is the dramatic increase in arm-smuggling into Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley that Jerusalem has explicitly attributed to Iran. In the past two years alone, IDF border units have seized more than 1,000 weapons during patrols on the eastern frontier. Over a year ago, the Israeli government announced its intention to build a security barrier along the eastern border to thwart Iranian efforts to smuggle weapons to terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria.
