This is happening in supposedly ”moderate” Jordan.
Mudar Zahran: If Jordan’s king is a friend of Israel; how come his closest loyalists are anti-Semitic?
Mudar Zahran has been granted asylum by the UK; says source close to Abdullah told him Jordan pushing for J’lem control.
Mudar Zahran, a Palestinian writer and academic from Jordan who has written op-eds for The Jerusalem Post, was sentenced in absentia last week in the Hashemite Kingdom to life in prison with hard labor.
He says he has learned that the Jordanian government may seek to have him extradited to Jordan to serve his sentence.
Zahran told the Post in an interview from the UK, where he has sought refuge, that a source inside the palace told him that King Abdullah, on his visit to the US, pushed for control of Jerusalem, and for an upgrade in status to key US ally in the region, even bypassingIsrael in importance.
He said that Jordan sees itself as being able to help US interests in the region by handling refugees from Syria and aiding peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, partly by handling cities in the West Bank.
According to his sources, the king asked Obama for more aid and for a statement that Jordan had withstood the Arab uprisings.
However, Obama did not consent to these requests, Zahran claimed, adding that Jordan was put down for the lack of progress on making internal reforms.
These claims could not be confirmed.
