US embassy cable - 03AMMAN6409

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 006409 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, IS, JO, SY 
SUBJECT: GOJ CONDEMNS ISRAELI RAID IN SYRIA; ISLAMISTS 
SURPRISINGLY SILENT 
 
REF: AMMAN 06394 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Edward W. Gnehm for Reasons 1.5 (B,D) 
 
1.  (U) Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on October 5 
condemned in an official press statement the Israeli military 
strike in Syria, calling it a "dangerous escalation" which 
threatened the security of the entire region.  Muasher 
further said that the attack "does not at all help the peace 
process," and called upon all parties to live up to their 
commitments as outlined in the roadmap. 
 
2.  (C) Muasher privately told Ambassador that same day that 
the GOJ had to strongly denounce the Israeli raid, as it had 
the Haifa bombing, since "Jordanian policy is not very 
popular inside Jordan or in the Arab world." 
 
3.  (U) In contrast to Muasher's statement, there was no 
official or publicized reaction by Jordanian Islamists, 
including the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing, the 
Islamic Action Front, to the Israeli action.  While a few 
Arabic press editorials decried the attack (see reftel), 
public response was surprisingly muted. 
 
4.  (C) COMMENT: It could be that the Islamists are still 
formulating a response for inclusion in tomorrow's press or 
are awaiting the results of a possible UN resolution vote 
condemning the Israeli raid.  Also, with Parliament now out 
of session until December 1, the IAF did not have a ready 
public platform to air their latest grievances against 
Israel. 
 
Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman or access the site through 
the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. 
GNEHM