Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi: Hamas Is An Idea And Ideas Do Not Die

Responding to Israel's statements that the war in Gaza is meant to eliminate Hamas, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi said, at a November 8, 2023 conference organized by the Amman municipality, that "Hamas is an idea and ideas do not die." He added that, without addressing the Palestinians' rights and establishing a Palestinian state, security and stability will never be achieved, and war will break out "every five or six years." He also stated that Jordan is working to refute the Israeli narrative about the war.

This statement comes in the wake of Jordanian Queen Rania's recent interview with the CNN, in which she questioned whether Hamas really committed atrocities as part of its October 7, 2023 terror attack in southern Israel.[1]

It should be noted that the Amman municipality conference was moderated by Jordanian journalist Abd Al-Hadi Raji Al-Majali, who expresses extremist positions in his column in the Jordanian state daily Al-Rai. For example, he has often written in praise of Palestinian terrorists, has called to stab Israelis and fire rockets from Gaza into Israel, and encouraged martyrdom.[2]  In an article he published on October 8, the day after Hamas' October 7 attack, Al-Majali celebrated this "victory" and added: "This morning [of October 7] was not like any morning. My coffee was sweeter… My breath and heart were with them [the Hamas operatives]. Gaza opened a window for us this morning, through which we could glimpse honor, conscience and victory…"[3]

The Jordanian press has generally been supportive of Hamas and of its actions on October 7. The state daily Al-Rai published multiple articles that welcomed and justified the attack, calling it a "high-quality operation" and "a natural part of the eternal revolution of liberation."[4] One writer stated that October 7 was "a blatantly national and humane day… because anything that hurts the occupation gladdens us."[5] Another wrote that Hamas' actions were "a legitimate, humane and even legal right anchored in international treaties and agreements."[6]

The following are translated excerpts from Al-Safadi's remarks at the Amman municipality conference:[7]

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi (Image: Petra.gov.jo, November 8, 2023)

Responding to statements by Israel and other parties about the need to eliminate Hamas, Al-Safadi said that “Hamas is an idea, and ideas do not die. Whoever wants [to create] a different situation must address the needs and the rights of the Palestinian people and [work toward] comprehensive peace. If the international community does not move in this direction and in accordance with a plan that will actualize peace, a Palestinian state, and the rights of [the Palestinian] people, we will have a war every five or six years, and no one will see the security and stability that the entire world is demanding.”

Reiterating Jordan’s position that expelling the Palestinian people to Jordan would be a declaration of war on the kingdom, and that "we will oppose this with all our might,” Al-Safadi added that Jordan opposes the proposals outlined by certain elements regarding the phase after the war in Gaza, since these scenarios “are not realistic, are unacceptable, and Jordan is not addressing them…” Jordan, he clarified, is opposed to all talk of “administering Gaza after the war by means of Arab or non-Arab forces.”

According to Al-Safadi, Jordan insists that "the Palestinian problem must be dealt with in its entirety, for there is no partial solution. There is only a political solution and a comprehensive and just peace that will ensure the rights of the Palestinians and the establishment of their independent state on all of the occupied Palestinian land… [a solution] that will address the roots of the conflict that go back to its very beginning, decades ago…”

The foreign minister also noted that, during the current war between Hamas and Israel, Jordan and its diplomacy "have had to undertake an unprecedented challenge, which is to expose the Israeli narrative about the war and to change international public opinion [about it]. This was accomplished by placing events in their historical context: Israel’s flagrant expropriation of the Palestinian rights, its rejection of peace and of any arrangement, its forcing the Palestinians into a situation of despair, the continued expansion of the settlements and eroding of the Palestinian lands, and the elimination of the two-state solution…”