An Israeli embassy security guard shot dead a Jordanian man who attacked him with a screwdriver at Israel’s embassy compound in Amman on Sunday night, police said. A second Jordanian man also died in the incident.

Israel is refusing to allow Jordanian authorities to question the security guard under the Vienna convention, claiming diplomatic immunity, and all embassy employees are currently confined to the compound, according to Israeli media. Jordan is reportedly refusing to allow the guard to leave the country.

Violence against Israelis is rare in Jordan, but tensions have escalated between the two countries since Israel installed metal detectors at entry points to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem after two Israeli policemen were shot dead by three Arab-Israeli gunmen on 14 July near the site.

The diplomatic stand off in Jordan comes as US president Donald Trump sent his Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt to the region in an effort to the bring the crisis over the metal detectors – which have fuelled lethal violence – to an end.

The UN Security council is due to discuss the issue later on Monday with the Arab League also due to convene to address the crisis later in the week.

Jordan has called for the removal of the metal detectors at the site, which is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation, and thousands of Jordanians have protested against the Israeli move.

Fatal shots were fired at the residential complex used by Israeli diplomats after Jordanian workers for a company which had been hired to replace furniture arrived at the building. One worker is reported to have stabbed the Israeli guard with a screwdriver.

The second Jordanian died from his wounds in hospital. He was identified as the building’s landlord.

The statement issued by the Jordanian public security department said its investigations indicated that the two Jordanians were at the residential building “as carpenters who had entered the facility in this capacity”.



“The investigation is still in its initial stage and a broader probe has been opened by PSD investigators to look into all the details of the incident and the public prosecution department has been notified,” the police said.

Jordanian media described the attacker as 17 years old and has said that the motive was “personal” although Israeli officials have suggested the incident was political.

The Israeli foreign ministry statement said the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also the foreign minister, had spoken to the security guard and to the ambassador, Einat Schlein, and stressed that the guard had immunity from questioning and prosecution.



The heavily-protected Israeli embassy in the affluent Rabae district of Amman is protected by Jordanian gendarmes. It has long been a flashpoint of anti-Israeli protests at times of turmoil in the Palestinian territories.

The Jordanian police said they had sealed the heavily protected embassy and deployed dozens of anti-terrorism forces.



Many of Jordan’s 7 million citizens are of Palestinian origin. They or their parents or grandparents were expelled or fled to Jordan in the fighting that accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948. Israel has in the past given repeated assurances that it understands Jordan’s concerns and does not seek to alter the status quo in the Muslim holy sites of Jerusalem.

King Abdullah’s Hashemite monarchy has been custodian of the sites since 1924, paying for their upkeep and deriving part of its legitimacy from the role.

Reuters contributed to this report

