Jordan counts on Biden as it asserts itself against Israel
- "Jordan chose the right moment to scupper what was supposed to be a show of victory and a campaign event for Netanyahu," said Oraib al-Rantawi, director of Al Quds Center For Political Studies.
AMMAN: When Jordan sabotaged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's triumphant pre-election trip to the United Arab Emirates last week, analysts say, it was sending him a message: stop marginalising us.
The Hashemite kingdom -- which kept a low profile during the term of former US president Donald Trump, a close Netanyahu ally -- now believes the winds have shifted and Joe Biden will show a more balanced approach.
Last Thursday, Jordan delayed granting Netanyahu permission to cross its airspace to the UAE, forcing him to shelve his trip to the rich Gulf state with which Israel normalised relations in a landmark agreement last year.
The move dealt a blow to Netanyahu, who is campaigning for re-election on March 23.
Jordan's move "sent an abrupt and firm message to make him understand that it will no longer tolerate his way of behaving towards it," said Ahmad Awad of the Phenix Center for Economics & Informatics Studies in Amman.
Netanyahu had been due to meet the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, to mark the historic agreement between Israel and the UAE on what would have been his first official visit to the Gulf state.
"Jordan chose the right moment to scupper what was supposed to be a show of victory and a campaign event for Netanyahu," said Oraib al-Rantawi, director of Al Quds Center For Political Studies.
"This move has turned into a crisis between the two countries."
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