Jordan is yet to react to the June 13 formation of a new Israeli government that ended Benyamin’s Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power. Under Netanyahu, relations between the two neighbors, who had signed a peace treaty 26 years ago, had dipped to their worst level. The decline was not restricted to political issues but economic areas as well. It was no secret that King Abdullah had lost trust in Netanyahu who, in Amman’s view, violated every agreement and understanding reached with Jordan over the years. 

But Amman is yet to comment on the swearing-in of a new coalition government headed, for now, by right-wing politician Naftali Bennett. While his coalition includes leftist and centrist parties, including one representing Palestinian citizens of Israel for the first time, Bennett’s political background and his right-wing ideology are seen by observers here as potentially even worse than those of Netanyahu, especially when it comes to the building of settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and the new prime minister's public rejection of the two-state solution. 

Newly appointed Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, also the alternate prime minister under his agreement with Bennett, called his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, on June 18, and discussed the importance of relations between the countries on both the political and security level and decided to stay in continuous contact, cooperate and to meet soon. No such call was made with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. Lapid plans to travel to the United Arab Emirates on his first visit to an Arab country.

But while Jordan did not comment on Netanyahu’s departure and the formation of a new government, its Foreign Ministry was quick to denounce Israeli forces' attack on worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound June 18. Foreign Ministry spokesman Daifallah al-Fayez described the attack as “a flagrant violation of the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the safety of worshippers,” and called on the Israeli occupation authorities to respect the historical and legal status quo, the sanctity of the mosque, the safety and freedom of worshippers and the authority of the Jordan-affiliated Jerusalem and Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, which is the “sole body authorized to administer the affairs of Al-Haram Al-Sharif.”