Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Jordan
Jewish presence, Zionist engagement and Israeli state, security and commercial ties in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Jordan cover Jordan's relations with the Zionist entity, from the Hashemite rulers' early dealings with the Zionist movement to the 1994 peace treaty and what followed. They include diplomatic, economic and security ties, in the face of widespread opposition within Jordanian society. Among them are covert historical contacts and economic links through initiatives such as the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs). "Israel" keeps an embassy in Amman, and co-operation continues amid tension over Palestinian rights.[1][2]
The Israel–Jordan peace treaty of 1994 formalised relations. It dealt with borders, security and water sharing, and led to embassies in each capital. Public protests against normalisation continue.[1] Historical figures such as King Abdullah I held secret negotiations with Zionist leaders, at the expense of Palestinian sovereignty.[3] Security co-ordination includes intelligence sharing. Under the QIZ rules, goods had to contain Israeli inputs to enter the United States duty-free, which tied Jordanian exporters to Israeli suppliers.[4]
Jordan has no synagogue and no Jewish community in modern times. The only Jews living there are a few foreign aid workers and Israeli diplomats.[5]
Jewish community and religious life
The Times of Israel reported in 2015 that "no Jewish community in recent memory ever resided within the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom". It said no Jews lived in Transjordan in 1946. The Jews in Jordan today are "a trickle of American aid workers in Amman who hide their identities, alongside Israeli officials at the local embassy".[5] The same report stated that "Jews are prohibited under Jordanian law from owning property or acquiring citizenship". This statement could not be checked against the text of Jordanian law, so it is given here only as the newspaper's claim.[5]
No Jewish communal body was found in Jordan. The World Jewish Congress has no Jordanian affiliate. The Gulf-based Association of Gulf Jewish Communities does not cover Jordan, and the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States lists no rabbi or community there.[6][7]
Israeli visitors came after the treaty, but not to stay. In 1995 Amman's Istanbul Restaurant tried to become the city's first kosher restaurant, with Israeli partners including Pinchas Sela. It closed within months. Its owner, Khaled Mohammed Al-Hindi, blamed his partners, local hostility and a lack of customers, while the Orthodox Union said the restaurant had never been properly certified.[8] In 2015 the veteran Israeli tour operator Eli Mali said: "Before the intifada there were heaps of Israeli bus tours around Jordan. Now it's just a trickle of hikers and a few off-road adventurers: Mostly young people after their army service."[5]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Jordan
The Chabad movement has no emissary, Chabad house or registered body in Jordan. The best-documented episode is from March 2026. More than 60 Lubavitch yeshiva students and seminary girls leaving "Israel" during the war were stuck in Amman for five days. They kashered a hotel kitchen, which COLlive called "the first Kosher kitchen in Jordan", and were flown to Washington with help from US officials, including the US ambassador to Jordan, James Holtsnider.[9][10]
Zionist movement and advocacy
Early Zionist engagement
Abdullah I. The Hashemite emir, later king, Abdullah dealt with the Jewish Agency for decades. On 17 November 1947 he met Golda Meyerson (later Golda Meir) in secret at Naharayim, at the house of Avraham Rutenberg of the Palestine Electric Corporation. Meyerson was standing in for Moshe Sharett as acting head of the Jewish Agency's Political Department, and the Agency's Arab experts Elias Sasson and Ezra Danin went with her.[3] Shlaim's book calls the understanding that followed "collusion" over the partition of Palestine.[3]
Mithqal al-Fayez. Mithqal Pasha al-Fayez, the Bani Sakhr "sheikh of sheikhs", met Chaim Weizmann, Moshe Sharett and Haim Arlosoroff at the King David Hotel on 8 April 1933. This was part of talks with the Jewish Agency over leasing his land. A Jewish Agency mortgage on the land was registered, but according to The Times of Israel "He never sold any land to the Jews". From 1936 he backed the Palestinian cause.[11]
Organised advocacy today
No Zionist organisation or pro-"Israel" lobby group was found operating openly in Jordan, and none of the sources reviewed describes one. The main organised economic link was the Israel-Jordan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which published Yitzhak Gal's "Quarterly Economic Survey" in the QIZ years.[4] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), an Israeli think tank, argues that "Israel should reinforce its security and economic ties" with Jordan. It describes Jordan as dependent on "Israel" for natural gas, water and intelligence co-operation, and says "Israel" supplies "hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water annually".[12]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomatic missions
Embassy of Israel, Amman. Address: 47 Maysaloun Street, Rabiya, P.O. Box 950866, Amman 11195. Tel. +962 6 550 3500 and +962 6 550 3531; fax +962 6 552 5177; email info@amman.mfa.gov.il.[13] The ambassador has been Rogel Rachman since September 2023. He previously directed the Israeli foreign ministry's Information and Civil Society Department (2019–23) and was Director of Public Diplomacy in Germany (2014–19).[14] In July 2017 an Israeli embassy security guard shot dead two Jordanians, one of whom had stabbed him. Benjamin Netanyahu then posted photographs of himself embracing the guard, and relations were damaged for years.[15]
Embassy of Jordan, Tel Aviv. On 1 November 2023 Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi recalled Jordan's ambassador, Rasan al-Majali, in protest at the Gaza war. He also told "Israel" not to send its ambassador back to Amman, and said the envoys would return only when "Israel" stopped the war. The last such recall had been in 2019.[2][16] No source was found showing that either ambassador has since returned.
Security and intelligence
Jordan and "Israel" co-operate on intelligence against shared threats, including pro-Iranian militias on Jordan's eastern border and Islamist opposition at home. An article published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) describes Jordan as "a strategic asset for Israel".[12] In December 2024 the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, and the head of military intelligence (Aman), Shlomi Binder, reportedly met Ahmad Husni, director of Jordan's General Intelligence Directorate, to discuss the rebel advance in Syria. Neither side confirmed the meeting officially.[17] In October 2025 Al-Akhbar published an article headlined "How Amman Maintains Israel's Security Through the Jordan Valley"; only the headline could be retrieved.[18]
Arms. According to SIPRI, "Israel" transferred 16 second-hand AH-1F Cobra combat helicopters to Jordan as aid. They were ordered in 2014 and delivered in 2015.[19]
Surveillance. The Citizen Lab found "with high confidence" that Jordanian security authorities had used forensic extraction products made by the Israeli firm Cellebrite against activists and human rights defenders, apparently since at least 2020. Some of the cases involved prosecutions under the 2023 Cybercrime Law.[20][21]
Qualifying Industrial Zones
US Presidential Proclamation 6955 of 21 November 1996 set up the QIZs. Goods co-produced by "Israel" and Jordan had to reach 35 per cent local content to enter the United States duty-free, made up of at least 11.7 per cent Jordanian and 8 per cent Israeli content (7 per cent for high-tech goods). The first zone, the Irbid QIZ (Al-Hassan Industrial Estate), was created in November 1997, and more zones followed, including the "Gateway Projects Industrial Zone".[22] The Washington Institute reported in 1998 that the Irbid designation had drawn a "spurt" of investors. It noted that Jordanian opponents said the QIZ exploited Jordanian workers.[23]
Five leading Israeli textile firms, led by Delta Galil Industries, started production first. A few non-textile firms followed, notably Motorola Israel. Most plants were joint ventures with the Jordanian Century Investment Group (CEIG). The Motorola electronics venture stopped after a few years. The Israeli partners later sold their shares to Century, and from the mid-2000s the plants mostly worked as subcontractors for Israeli companies. At the end of 2004 eight QIZs housed about 90 plants, fewer than 10 per cent of them Israeli–Jordanian joint ventures. "Many of the few hundred Israeli companies" that had supplied the zones left after 2005, when the Multi-Fibre Agreement ended and the US–Jordan free trade agreement took over.[4]
| Zone | Location | Exports (2004) | Cumulative invested capital | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madinat al-Hassan | Near Irbid | $400 million (garments) | $300 million | 20,000 |
| Al-Tajamouat | Near Amman | $300 million | $350 million | 17,000 |
| Al-Duleil | Near Zarqa | >$120 million | $120 million | 13,000 |
Source: Gal and Rock (2018).[4] The QIZs employed about 60,000 workers, of whom an estimated 35,000–40,000 were Jordanian.[4] The smaller QIZs included Cyber City near Irbid, Al-Qastal and Al-Zay.[4]
Delta Galil Industries. This Israeli clothing group was the leader of the first Israeli QIZ investors.[4] Through its subsidiary Delta Israel Brands, it runs shops in the settlement neighbourhoods of Pisgat Ze'ev and Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem, and in the settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank.[24]
El Zay Ready Wear Manufacturing. A Jordanian public shareholding garment company founded in 1992.[25] Al-Zay is listed among the smaller QIZs.[4]
Jordan Gateway. On 31 July 2022 the Israeli cabinet under Yair Lapid approved plans for the "Jordan Gateway", a joint industrial park straddling the border near Beit She'an and linked by the existing Jordan River Crossing. It would be run by the Israel Airports Authority. The project was first proposed in the 1994 peace talks.[15] No source was found on whether it has since opened.
Trade and energy
Bilateral trade has stayed small. Israeli exports to Jordan fell from $200–250 million a year in the late 2000s to $50–100 million a year in 2013–2017. Much of what is recorded as imports from Jordan is Gulf goods in transit.[4] The Leviathan gas field supplies Jordan. It is operated by Chevron (39.66 per cent), with NewMed Energy (45.34 per cent) and Ratio Energies (15 per cent). In January 2026 Chevron took a final investment decision to expand Leviathan towards about 21 billion cubic metres a year for "Israel, Egypt and Jordan".[26] Exports to Egypt and Jordan were halted during the June 2025 war with Iran, and again on 28 February 2026.[27] In 2015 The Times of Israel referred to a $15 billion deal for Leviathan gas.[5]
Opposition and the Gaza war
About three million Palestinians live in Jordan, and the Gaza war has set off a severe backlash there.[2]
Jeffrey Epstein
State Department records obtained by ABC News show that Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly applied for a second US passport "in order to avoid conflicting visa stamps" when travelling to "Israel" and to Arab states including Jordan and Saudi Arabia.[28]
See also
- Chabad Lubavitch of Jordan
- Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
- Zionist movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Bahrain
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Saudi Arabia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to the United Arab Emirates
External links
- Embassy of Israel in Jordan (official site)
- Tony Blair Institute: Israeli-Jordanian Trade: In-Depth Analysis
- US International Trade Administration: Qualifying Industrial Zones – Jordan
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bilateral relations Embassy of Israel in Jordan, last updated 19 August 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Al Jazeera, Jordan recalls ambassador to Israel to protest Gaza 'catastrophe' Al Jazeera, 1 November 2023.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 110–111.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Yitzhak Gal and Bader Rock, Israeli-Jordanian Trade: In-Depth Analysis Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, 17 October 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Avi Lewis, Dodging swastikas and Israel hate, Jordan's secret Jews slip beneath the radar The Times of Israel, 7 May 2015.
- ↑ Association of Gulf Jewish Communities, Jews in 6 Gulf nations form first association to enhance regional Jewish life gulfjewish.org, 15 February 2021.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, Communities rabbisalliance.org, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jordan's Kosher Eatery Changes Menu JTA, 22 September 1995.
- ↑ COLlive, Stranded in Jordan for Days, Bochurim and Seminary Girls Back in US COLlive, 8 March 2026.
- ↑ VINnews, Trump Administration Aids Return of Over 60 Stranded Chabad Students from Jordan VINnews, 9 March 2026.
- ↑ Dov Lieber, How Jordan's 'sheikh of sheikhs' negotiated with Zionists, founded a kingdom The Times of Israel, 3 September 2016.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Oded Ailam, Jordan is a Strategic Asset for Israel Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2025.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Contact us Embassy of Israel in Jordan, accessed 20 October 2026; street address, fax and second telephone number from the gov.il list "Israel's Diplomatic Missions" (library copy).
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The ambassador Embassy of Israel in Jordan, last updated 7 June 2026.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 ToI Staff, Government advances plan for joint industrial park with Jordan The Times of Israel, 31 July 2022.
- ↑ Israel National News, Jordan recalls ambassador in Israel Arutz Sheva, 1 November 2023.
- ↑ ToI Staff, Israelis and Jordanians said to meet secretly amid worries over rebel surge in Syria The Times of Israel, 15 December 2024.
- ↑ Al-Akhbar, How Amman Maintains Israel's Security Through the Jordan Valley Al-Akhbar, 22 October 2025.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, trade register, Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, generated 20 October 2026 (library copy).
- ↑ Citizen Lab, From Protest to Peril: Cellebrite Used Against Jordanian Civil Society Citizen Lab, 22 January 2026.
- ↑ Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Jordan used Israeli firm's phone-cracking tool to surveil pro-Gaza activists, report finds The Guardian, 22 January 2026.
- ↑ International Trade Administration, Qualifying Industrial Zones – Jordan trade.gov, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Israel-Jordan Joint Venture Appears to Enhance Ties Washington Institute, 8 May 1998.
- ↑ Who Profits, Delta Galil Industries Who Profits, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ El Zay Ready Wear Manufacturing Co., About elzay.com, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Chevron, Chevron takes Final Investment Decision on Leviathan gas expansion Chevron, 16 January 2026.
- ↑ S&P Global, Israel halts gas exports amid Iranian missile strikes S&P Global, 28 February 2026.
- ↑ James Hill and Thomas Volscho, Records show Jeffrey Epstein's requests for multiple passports, travels to Africa and Middle East ABC News, 15 January 2024.