The New York Times reports:
Israel nearly emptied its embassy here of staff members on Thursday ahead of a planned pro-Palestinian rally outside the gates. But officials denied Israeli press reports that the diplomats had been completely evacuated over fear that the building could be ransacked, in an echo of the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo last week.
Paul Hirschson, a deputy spokesman at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that most of the diplomats in Jordan, including the ambassador, had been due to spend the weekend in Israel anyway, and that they had left Jordan a few hours earlier than they normally would have.
“Nothing has been evacuated,” Mr. Hirschson said. “We are watching what is going on.”
The weekend staff remains in Jordan, though Israeli officials would not comment on specifics — who was staying or whether they remained inside the embassy or not.
The embassy would normally close on Thursday after office hours and reopen on Sunday. Mr. Hirschson said he expected the ambassador and all staff members to be back by Sunday.
The demonstration has been called for 6.30 p.m., when the building would be mostly empty.
Earlier, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper and other Israeli news media had reported that a convoy carrying the Israeli diplomats had left Jordan overnight for Israel.
Haha 3 embassies in two weeks?
“the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that most of the diplomats in Jordan, including the ambassador, had been due to spend the weekend in Israel anyway.”
Wow what a coincidence! Most of the diplomats and the ambassador all decided to take leave at the same time! Have you ever heard of another embassy where the staff just so happen to be all leaving the country on the same day?
And of course the fact that there is a Pro-Palestine rally taking place is just a coincidence and has no connection with them leaving 2 days beforehand.
The Israeli embassy sounds like Saddam’s propaganda puppet “Comical Ali” saying that US troops had not entered Baghdad when the split screen showed US tanks driving around the city.
Making it humorous that the middle east is going up in hell and Israel should be to blame is one more piece of sick propaganda. You need Israel no matter how imperfect the situation is with Palestine. I’d like to see how long your freedom would last in Iran or Syria.
@ Allan
You might refer to revolutions toppling dictators as “the middle east going up in hell” but I don’t. What is happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and possibly Jordan is all great news for the Middle East and for Arabs. The backlash against Israel is the long overdue wrath of people who can now express themselves freely.
As for me “needing” Israel no matter how imperfect? The only thing I “need” Israel to do is pack up and leave Palestinian land. Just like the White settlers in South Africa and the White settlers in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia they are claiming land that doesn’t belong to them and to defend that theft are setting up there own racist governments and there own racist armies to defend that theft.