Now that the incident at the Israeli Embassy in Jordan has been resolved, Israel can end the controversy over the metal detectors on Temple Mount. Israel and Jordan have ostensibly tried to have the two issues resolved separately. The official statements on Tuesday regarding the return of the embassy staff -- including the security guard who shot the two Jordanians in self-defense on Sunday -- do not tie the Temple Mount debate to the resolution of the embassy incident. But behind the scenes, Israel and Jordan appear to have come to a broader arrangement that could resolve the crisis on the Temple Mount. If this is true, it could be good news for both countries, and restore Jordan's King Abdullah as the leader of the Arab world (on this issue, at least). Assuming that the metal detector issue was already about to be resolved, letting the Jordanians claim credit for it is better than having the controversy be influenced by the radical elements leading the incitement campaign. Relations between Jordan and Israel have known many ups and downs. Behind the scenes, the two countries cooperate on several issues, primarily on security matters. But in public, Jordanian officials, including some in senior positions, show open disdain toward Israel, and in recent weeks the anti-Israeli rhetoric from Amman has intensified. The peace treaty between the two countries recognizes the "special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" on the Temple Mount, which puts Jordan in charge of the Islamic Waqf (the organization that administers Muslim sites). As such, Jordan was hurt when Israel chose to introduce new security measures on Temple Mount without consulting it. Israel has tried to give Jordan a more prominent role in defusing the Temple Mount crisis, but this effort was complicated by the security incident at the embassy. The anti-Israel sentiment in Jordan, which was only made worse by that incident, made it difficult for the king to go easy on Israel (especially when he was vacationing in the United States). After the botched 1997 assassination attempt against Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal in Amman, Israel agreed to release Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in exchange for the Mossad agents. Israel essentially agreed to give away a strategic asset (Yassin) for a tactical gain (Mossad agents). On Monday, Israel once again paid a strategic price to resolve a tactical situation.
Had Israel decided not to pay the price, relations could have soured further and the scope of the violence could have increased. It is now abundantly clear that those who thought the controversy over the Temple Mount was a local matter that would fade away were wrong. In fact, resolving the controversy goes beyond the matter of the metal detectors. It will take time before tensions subside, and security forces will have to stay on high alert in the near term both in Israel and, as the embassy incident shows, abroad.
There are two other interesting points. The first is the decision to send Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman, rather than Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, to Jordan to resolve the crisis. This was an interesting choice considering that relations with the kingdom are usually handled by the spy agency. The fact that Argaman was dispatched is a particularly painful public rebuke of the Mossad, given the public rivalry between the two organizations and their chiefs.
The second is the decision by the Office of the Military Censor to prevent Israeli news outlets from reporting on the incident for about 12 hours, despite the information being disseminated freely on social media and other international outlets. While censorship makes sense when lives are at stake, there was no point in keeping things under wraps after Jordan had issued an official statement. From that moment forward, the lives of the Israeli Embassy staff were in the hands of the Jordanians, not the Israelis. The military censor's conduct did not contribute to Israel's security. In fact, it severely undermined its own credibility and ensured that Israelis will turn elsewhere for news.
