TV report: Bennett says Netanyahu harmed relations with Jordan for Instagram post

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett during this morning’s government cabinet meeting blames opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu for strained relations with Jordan when the latter was prime minister.

“There was a severe rift with Jordan for years because my predecessor uploaded a tweet to Instagram with a picture [of Netanyahu] with a security guard who accidentally killed a Jordanian,” Bennett is quoted as saying by Channel 12 news.

Bennett is referring to Ziv Moyal, a guard at the Israeli embassy in Amman who was stabbed by a Jordanian on July 23, 2017, whereupon he shot and killed the attacker along with a bystander, sparking a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Amman.

Netanyahu later met with Moyal, and his office published pictures of the two embracing.

“For a post on Instagram, we damaged the relationship with Jordan for years,” Bennett is quoted as saying.

Relations with Jordan have improved significantly since Bennett and now Prime Minister Yair Lapid established a new government. The two, as well as other senior Israeli leaders, have met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II over the past year.