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מקור ישראלי: לאחר שהשב”כ טיפס על עץ גבוה מדי בפרשת העצורים הירדניים (לדברי המקור: שני דגי רקק בשירות חיזבאללה), נתניהו הורה לשחרר אותם כדי לסיים את המשבר הדיפלומטי עם ירדן

مصدر اسرائيلي: نتنياهو هو الذي امر المخابرات بالافراج عن اللبدي ومرعي بهدف انهاء الازمة مع الاردن

Jordanian’s protest the imprisonment without trial of fellow Jordanians detained by Israel (Mahmoud Illean/AP)

The Israeli Shin Bet arrested two young Jordanians, Heba al-Labadi and Abdul Rahman Miri, two months ago, as they attempted to cross into the West Bank from Jordan. Though it claimed the couple were suspected of ‘serious security offenses,’ it refused to charge them with any crime and detained them as indefinite administrative detainees. One of them has suffered from cancer since 2010.

The Jordanian government becamse increasingy angry with their mistreatment, and one of the prisoners went on a month-long hunger strike. It recalled its ambassador in protest, while the Israeli foreign ministry warned the security service that the incident posed permanent harm to bilateral relations between the two countries.

Earlier today, the crisis was averted:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the deal had been reached between the head of Shin Bet and his Jordanian counterpart.

However, this is a cover story, according to an informed Israeli source: the Prime Minister ordered the Shin Bet to release the detainees. The source tells me that the agency had “gotten stuck up a tree” in refusing to free them. After ignoring MFA warnings, Netanyahu stepped in to resolve the impasse. Though I have not been able to corroborate the following claim independently, the source said that the two were minor figures associated with Hezbollah.