Israel protests Jordan’s condolences to terrorists’ families

The Israeli Embassy in Amman lodged a complaint with the Jordanian Foreign Ministry over a condolence letter sent by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour to the families of the Palestinian terrorists who killed five Israelis in a Jerusalem synagogue attack last week.

In its formal complaint, the embassy included a collection of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel cartoons that have recently appeared in Jordanian media, highlighting the correlation between direct and public incitement and escalating regional tensions.

“I ask God to envelop them with mercy and to grant you with patience, comfort and recovery from your grief,” Ensour wrote in the letter sent Friday to the Jordanian family members of Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal.

Last week, the two Palestinian terrorists stormed a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem, and killed four worshipers and one police officer.

Although the Jordanian government formally condemned the synagogue attack in a statement, its parliament held a moment of silence for the two cousins from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, who were killed by police at the scene shortly after the attack.

On Thursday, Israel issued demolition orders for the houses of the two terrorists’ families, as well as for the those of Mu’taz Hijazi, who tried to assassinate right-wing Jewish activist Yehudah Glick, and Ibrahim al-Akary, who rammed his car into pedestrians in the capital, killing two.

Following a spike in Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved plans to knock down or seal up the homes of anyone attacking Israelis as part of a raft of measures to “restore calm” in Jerusalem.