Jordan Holding Israeli Security Guard Who Shot Jordanians in ‘Self-Defense’

(JNS.org) An Israeli security guard at the Jewish state’s embassy in Jordan is being prevented from leaving the Arab country after he fatally shot two Jordanians Sunday afternoon in what Israel described as an act of “self-defense.”

Mohammed Jawawdeh, 17, a worker who was at the embassy compound in Amman to install furniture, stabbed the Israeli guard in the stomach with a screwdriver before being shot. A Jordanian doctor, who owned the building where the attack took place, was hit by a stray bullet during the incident and died of his injuries. 

The security guard is protected by diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and cannot be arrested, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. “The security officer responded in self-defense. He was lightly injured,” the ministry said.

Yet Jordanian authorities are holding the guard in the Israeli embassy compound while conducting an investigation into the incident, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.

“We are holding ongoing contacts with security and government officials in Amman, on all levels, in order to bring the incident to a close as quickly as possible,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a joint press conference with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili in Jerusalem.

The incident comes amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Israel and Jordan over the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem. The Jordanian Islamic Waqf administers the Temple Mount.