TEL AVIV: Israeli authorities released a Jordanian lawmaker to his home country on Sunday, Israel’s domestic security agency said, after he allegedly tried smuggling dozens of rifles and handguns through an Israeli-controlled border crossing.
Legislator Imad Al-Adwan’s arrest threatened to further strain ties between Israel and neighboring Jordan, which have had tense relations recently despite a nearly three-decade-old peace treaty. Israel viewed the incident as serious, but Al-Adwan’s release signaled it was hoping to put the potentially combustible affair behind it.
Al-Adwan was arrested on Apr. 22 with bags full of more than 200 guns, the Shin Bet agency said in a statement. It said its investigation revealed that Al-Adwan carried out 12 separate smuggling attempts since early 2022, using his diplomatic passport to bring in anything from electronic cigarettes to gold to birds.
The Shin Bet said that since the start of the year, he made numerous successful attempts to smuggle in arms. The smuggling was done in exchange for unspecified amounts of money, the Shin Bet said. The agency said he was released for “further investigation and pursuit of justice” by Jordanian authorities.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, as well as a brother of Al-Adwan, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence over the past year. Israel says the area has been flooded with illegal weapons, including guns smuggled from neighboring Jordan.
Since Israel’s hard-line government took office late last year, relations with Jordan have deteriorated over Israeli settlement construction, violence in the West Bank and policies over holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The ties were at a nadir in 2017, when a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Jordan shot and killed two Jordanians, alleging one attacked him with a screw driver. The Israeli guard and Israel’s then-ambassador were given a hero’s welcome by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Jordan.
Jordan controlled the West Bank and east Jerusalem before Israel captured the areas in the 1967 Mideast war, but the kingdom retains custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim holy sites in the Old City.
Israel releases Jordan lawmaker said to have smuggled guns
https://arab.news/6qtnc
Israel releases Jordan lawmaker said to have smuggled guns
- Legislator Imad Al-Adwan’s arrest threatened to further strain ties between Israel and neighboring Jordan
- Investigation revealed that Al-Adwan carried out 12 separate smuggling attempts since early 2022
Iran’s president says rioters must not disrupt society
- Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of “trying to escalate this unrest with regard to the economic discussion and solutions we are working on”
TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday said “rioters” should not be allowed to disrupt society, in his first remarks after three nights of intensified protests against the country’s authorities.
Pezeshkian, in an interview with state TV on Sunday, said “protesting is the people’s right,” but echoed authorities in drawing a line between outcry over Iran’s dire economy and “rioters” they allege are backed by the US and Israel.
“The people (of Iran) should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we (the government) want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.
Pezeshkian called on Iranians to “come together and not let these people riot” on the streets.
“If people have a concern, we will hear them. It is our duty to hear them and solve their problems. However, our highest duty is not to allow rioters to come and disrupt society,” he said.
Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of “trying to escalate this unrest with regard to the economic discussion and solutions we are working on.”
“They have taken some people here inside and abroad and trained them. They brought terrorists in from abroad into the country,” he said, calling those who had set the mosque on fire “not human.”
State TV has aired images of buildings, including a mosque on fire, with authorities saying members of the security forces have been killed.
US President Donald Trump has said his country “stands ready to help” demonstrators and threatened new military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he hoped Iran would soon be freed from what he described as the “yoke of tyranny.”
