Jordan jails 2 for plot to attack Israeli troops over US embassy move

AMMAN, Jordan — A Jordanian court on Wednesday sentenced two men to 10 years in prison with hard labor for planning an attack against Israeli forces on the kingdom’s border with the West Bank.

The state security court in Amman ruled that the men, Jordanians both in their 20s, had planned to target Israeli soldiers with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a pistol.

They had hatched the plan last year after US President Donald Trump announced his controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel, sparking outrage among Palestinians, a court document said.

One of those convicted planned “to carry out an armed terrorist operation… after (Trump’s) decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem and over the abuses against Palestinians by the Israeli army,” it said.

Protesters shout slogans and wave the Jordanian flag during a demonstration near the American Embassy in Amman against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 7, 2017. (AFP/Khalil Mazraawi)

The two men from the city of Madaba, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Amman, admitted they had also planned to open fire on Jordanian forces if they were intercepted, the charge sheet said.

They were intercepted by Jordanian border guards in May last year, before they could cross the border and reach Israeli forces.

Jordan is the only Arab country apart from Egypt to have a peace deal with Israel.

But the treaty is overwhelmingly opposed by Jordanians, more than half of whom are of Palestinian origin.