Knesset speaker slams Jordanian counterpart for supporting terrorists

“If you couldn’t condemn – it would be preferable if you just kept quiet,” Yuli Edelstein stated regarding the deadly Temple Mount attack. 

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein on Monday harshly criticized Jordanian Parliament Speaker Atef Tarawneh for praising the three terrorists who carried out Friday’s terror attack at the Temple Mount and murdered two Israeli police officers.

Tarawneh held a prayer session at the Jordanian parliament, during which he said, “May the mercy of Allah be upon our shahids [martyrs] who sowed and watered the pure land. We will raise our heads through the sacrifice of the young Palestinians who are still fighting in the name of the nation.”

Tarawneh blamed Israel for the attack, claiming that the ”occupation” of Jerusalem and justified the killing.

‘A Very Serious Parliamentary Incident’

Edelstein called Tarawneh`s comments “a serious parliamentary incident, even very serious.”

“While all of us are still hurting from Friday’s attack at the Temple Mount, in which two young policemen were murdered, Tarawneh, from the podium of the [Jordanian] parliament, said ‘the shahids water the pure land.’ It is inconceivable that such a senior figure, in a country with whom we have a peace agreement, will encourage the murder of the citizens of Israel,” Edelstein stated.

The Knesset speaker addressed Tarawneh directly, telling him that “the basic thing that was demanded of you, as a public figure and as a human being, was to condemn this abominable crime. You were supposed to be one of the first to say: It is absolutely forbidden to act violently anywhere – and certainly not to desecrate holy places! And if you couldn’t condemn – it would be preferable if you just kept quiet!”

Edelstein noted that he meets parliamentary leaders all over the world and always stresses his goal to create frameworks for regional cooperation with Arab countries.

”The kind of statements that were heard yesterday from your mouth distance this goal, and we can only regret that,” Edelstein concluded.

By: World Israel News Staff