Mourners in ‘Moderate’ Jordan Chant ‘Death to Israel’ After Deadly Embassy Shooting

Thousands in Jordan gathered to mourn and bury teenage Mohammed Jawawdeh, the 17-year-old who was killed Sunday when he attacked an Israeli guard with a screwdriver at the embassy.

And what were they saying during the gathering?

“Death to Israel,” the Times of Israel reported.

And Jordan’s supposed to be home of the moderate Muslim.

But the throng chanted the message — even as it was undisputed the teen attacked the Israeli guard.

More, from the Times of Israel:

Mohammed Jawawdeh, 17, was killed Sunday, when he attacked the guard with a screwdriver at the embassy compound.

A second Jordanian was also killed, apparently by accident, and will be buried Thursday.

The killings sparked a standoff between Israel and Jordan amid tensions over the Temple Mount, where Israel imposed new security measures after a deadly mid-July attack on police.

Mourners set off with Jawawdeh’s coffin from Wihdat city, home to a large Palestinian refugee camp east of Amman, towards the cemetery in nearby Umm al-Hiran, where he was buried.

They carried pictures of the 17-year-old along with Palestinian and Jordanian flags, and chanted “Death to Israel”.

“We will go to Jerusalem as martyrs by the millions,” they chanted.
Jawawdeh’s uncle, Sami, said the family is urging Jordan’s King Abdullah II to avenge his death “because he is the one who can decide in such matters”.

“Mohammed’s blood did not flow in vain,” he added, saying it paved the way for Israel’s removal early Tuesday of metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount, which houses the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Israel had installed the devices following a July 14 attack in which three Arab Israelis killed two policemen who were on duty just outside the compound. They used firearms smuggled onto the mount.

The move to bolster security at the access gates to the compound, seen by Palestinians as an attempt to assert Israeli control over the site, triggered Muslim outrage and deadly violence.