Jordan Restaurants Refusing to Serve «Israelis»

Local Editor

Jordanian restaurants in the city of Aqaba had been denying service to vacationing "Israelis" due to their country of origin.

According to "Israeli" network Channel 2, Jordanians had been refusing service to Jewish customers as part of a general antipathy towards "Israelis". One such traveler posted on Facebook that she and a friend were forced from an Aqaba restaurant after the owner said that he was "not ready to serve ‘Israelis'."

On Yelp and travel sites, top restaurants in Aqaba had negative reviews penned by "Israelis" who claimed they were denied service and discriminated against.

A petition had been filed with the "Israeli" Embassy in Amman, which had promised to "investigate the claims that we have received and seek a clarification as to why ‘Israeli' citizens were refused service. We will [also] turn to the Jordanian tourist authorities and relay the complaints to them."

Aqaba is Jordan's only coastal city, and in recent years it has become a center for tourism. Jordan signed a treaty with the "Israeli" entity in 1994, and since then Aqaba has become an affordable sightseeing destination for "Israelis" due to the shared border and comparatively low prices.

"Israeli" analysts said that anti-"Israeli" demonstrations are common in Jordan, but don't reflect the stance of the government. "Because the population is conservative and very much Islamic, the regime lets the public ... express anti-"Israeli" sentiments as a way to vent and reduce ... pressure on the regime," said Professor Eyal Zassir with Tel Aviv University Contemporary Middle Eastern History to the Jewish Journal.

Zassir added that a similar situation has played out in Egypt, with which Israel also has a peace treaty. Although most of the population of these Muslim countries is anti-"Israel", the security and economic benefits of a partnership outweigh the disdain.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team