Diplomatic relations and security cooperation between Jordan and Israel will not be damaged following the Jordanian Parliament lower house's unanimous decision this week to expel the Israeli ambassador and recall the kingdom's ambassador to Israel, a senior Jordanian official told Israel Hayom on Thursday.
Israeli officials in Jerusalem also said that the parliamentary decision was not applicable. An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said Thursday that "the matter doesn't seem to be serious."
The senior Jordanian official also said that his country "has a problem with the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees," seeking safety in Jordan.
Oded Eran, the former ambassador to Jordan, told Israel Radio Thursday morning that Israel had recently increased water transfers to the kingdom due to the swelling number of Syrian refugees there. Another Israeli source, however, said that Israel's recent increase of water transfers to the Jordanians and Palestinians was not related to the Syrian refugee problem in Jordan.
Eran also said that Israel allows Jordan to use the port of Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea to export its goods to Western countries.