Jordanian parliament votes to strike ‘Israel’ from official record

Islamist lawmakers say the Jewish state should not be named due to its “enemy” status.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Jordan’s parliament voted Monday to delete the name “Israel” from the official record of a debate after Islamist lawmakers argued that the country should not be referred to by name because it is an “enemy state.”

Islamist MP Hayel Ayash introduced the proposal, saying Israel “represents an enemy to every Jordanian.”

MP Abdul Nasser Khasawneh went further, calling for the permanent removal of the term “Israel” from official language and proposing it be replaced with “the usurping entity,” according to Jordanian outlet Roya News.

Such terminology, he argued, would better reflect Jordan’s position on Palestinian rights to their land.

According to Kan News Arab affairs correspondent Roi Kais, the move was backed by Saleh al-Armouti, head of the Islamic Action Front parliamentary bloc — the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan’s parliament — who described the decision as “bestowing an honor upon the parliament.”

Last month, the Trump administration designated the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity.

The debate was sparked by remarks attributed to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee regarding Israeli control of disputed territories. Parliament Speaker Mazen al-Qadi condemned the comments as endorsing Israeli control over what he called “Arab lands.”

The “West Bank and Gaza,” he said, are “Palestinian territories,” and labeled Huckabee’s statements a violation of international law and the UN Charter, as well as “a blatant provocation and a serious breach of state sovereignty.”

In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Huckabee said “it would be fine” if Israel “took” all the territory God bequeathed to the Jewish people in the Bible, which encompasses large portions of neighboring states.

The remark angered many Arab governments, including Jordan.

The State Department has since clarified that Huckabee’s statements reflected only his personal views and did not represent a change in official American policy.

Israel was also recently condemned by many Arab and European governments for a Security Cabinet decision last week to allow private Israelis to directly register purchases of state-owned land in Area C of Judea and Samaria, which is under full Israeli civil and security control.

Previously, such purchases had to be made indirectly through companies due to legal frameworks that remained in place after Israel liberated the territory in 1967 Six-Day War, making it much harder to build Jewish settlements in the area.