For Israel, the success of Jordan’s regime is a vital national security interest

Israel's longest land border, stretching some 300 kilometres, is its eastern one with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. For the past seven months, while the IDF has been actively fighting Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north, the Jordanian eastern border has kept quiet. 

Not only that, but Jordan's air force took part in the interception of hundreds of Iranian UAVs which Tehran launched towards Israel in mid-April. The Jordanian security forces also foiled attempts by radicals supported by Iran to use the Kingdom’s territory to attack Israel.

The unfolding events since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel have put Jordan in a very sensitive situation, as the Kingdom finds itself between a rock and a hard place.

The Jordanian regime is facing growing public pressure, led by the large Palestinian population in the country and Islamist political parties, to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Gaza and to join the fight against Israel. At the same, the Jordanian government's actions reflect the Kingdom's interest in maintaining stability in the region and its ongoing security cooperation with Israel, which is traditionally kept out of public sight.

Jordan’s longstanding positive relations with Israel started decades before the formal signing of the 1994 peace accord between the two countries. The connection between the Hashemite family and Zionist leaders goes back as far as 1919, even before both Israel and Jordan were established, and forms part of the Western-oriented policies the Kingdom has followed since its early days.

Those policies have created inherent tension with Palestinian nationalists over the years and led to a complex bitter history between the two parties.