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Imagine if an organization of Jewish terrorists, with offices in Israel, periodically sent its death squads into Jordan to massacre innocent Jordanian women and children. Imagine if the Israeli government refused to expel the group or shut down its offices, leaving King Hussein no choice but to send his agents to Israel to assassinate the leader of the terrorists. And imagine that the assassination attempt failed. Would the international community condemn King Hussein for his action? Would it denounce Hussein for "undermining Israeli-Jordanian relations" or "violating the sovereignty of Jordan's neighbor" ? Not likely--those kinds of accusations seem to be reserved for Israel, especially when Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer is the one doing the accusing. In her December 30 column in the Inquirer, Rubin interviewed King Hussein about current issues, including the failed Israeli attempt to assassinate a Hamas terrorist leader in Jordan last November. Rubin called the Israeli action "divisive," and claimed that it "soured the Jordan-Israel relationship."
What is really "divisive" and what really "sours" Jordan-Israel relations is the fact that King Hussein permits the Hamas terrorists to maintain offices in his capital--in blatant violation of the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty.
For some time prior to signing the peace treaty, King Hussein permitted Hamas to maintain a large headquarters in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Indeed, in early 1994, then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that Jordan had become "a paradise" for Hamas terrorists. (Washington Post, April 16, 1994) When Israel and Jordan signed their peace treaty six months later, it was generally assumed that Jordan would close down the Hamas offices in Amman. After all, article 5(b) of the October 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty specificially obligates both nations to "prevent the entry, presence and cooperation in their territory of any group or organization which threatens the security of the other Party". But shortly after the signing of the treaty, Prime Minister Rabin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Hamas office in Amman had again "issued orders for terrorist strikes inside Israel." Rabin complained that "Jordan is doing nothing to curtail the Hamas activities." (Jerusalem Post, November 2, 1994)
More than three years later, King Hussein continues to permit Hamas to operate from his territory--which is what forced Israel to attempt to strike at Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, in Amman. King Hussein is providing shelter to an organization that is sworn to destroy Israel and has murdered over 200 Israelis in the past four years. The week before the Israeli action in Amman, Arab terrorists --probably from Hamas-- shot and wounded two Israelis near the Israeli Embassy in Amman.
Israel's Consul-General in New York, Shmuel Sisso, has described Khaled Meshal as "one of the main leaders of Hamas. He was giving the instructions. He was the one who pushed hard for keeping up the suicide bombings in Israel, and he is connected with Iran. He got his instructions or is cooperating with Iran. That's what we know." Steven Emerson, the award-winning investigative journalist and expert on Muslim terrorism, agrees with Sisso. Emerson has also pointed out that Meshal, in a speech to the Muslim Arab Youth Organization in Oklahoma City, said: "The greed of the Jews in our country is great and the danger is constant, not only for our nation but the whole of humanity. It is a battle of civilizations."
If King Hussein is sincerely opposed to terrorism, he should have been pleased that Israel was pursuing terrorist leaders such as Meshal. In fact, Hussein should have been pursuing the terrorists himself. Instead, the Jordanian king denounced Israel's anti-terrorist action, imprisoned the Israeli anti-terror agents involved in the action, and reportedly threatened to hang them in public. Consider the irony: Jordan was ready to give the death penalty to Israelis who tried to kill a terrorist--yet Jordan gave only a 25-year prison sentence to the Jordanian soldier who recently massacred seven Israeli schoolgirls. And King Hussein went even further on behalf of the Hamas Continued on page 3 Page 3 terrorists. He demanded that Israel provide the antidote, to save Meshal's life. He pressured Israel to release the imprisoned Hamas terror leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. When Yassin was set free, Hussein physically embraced him, and loaned Yassin his Royal Helicopter to fly to Gaza (the equivalent of giving him Air Force One). Hussein also demanded that Israel release additional imprisoned terrorists.
Instead of denouncing Israel for defending itself against mass-murderers, Trudy Rubin should have questioned King Hussein about his policy of aiding and abetting those murderers. If a European or Asian leader had engaged such pro-terrorist behavior, Rubin would surely have grilled him about his actions. Why is an Arab leader exempt from serious questioning?