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Hundreds rioted outside the Israeli embassy in Amman, Jordan this evening (Tuesday) following the explosion at a Gaza hospital that Hamas blamed on an Israeli airstrike. Dozens of rioters even attempted to storm the embassy. Hamas has claimed that 500 people were killed in the explosion. The IDF has stated that it is investigating the blast and reiterated that it does not deliberately strike hospitals. The possibility that the blast was caused by a misfired Hamas rocket, many of which have been known to fall short and land in Gaza, is being investigated. An Israeli source later confirmed that "unequivocally,...

BREAKING: Jordan cancels summit between Biden, King Abdulla, President Sisi and president Abbas planned for tomorrow in Amman, Jordanian foreign minister says

Miami, Florida imam, Fadi Kablawi, says a lot of incredibly offensive things. He has referred to Jews as “the lowest of the lowest” ... He has said that Christians practice a “fake” religion and that “Christianity can compete for first place in stupidity.” Kablawi’s insults and bigotry know no bounds. This past August, he looked to outrage once again, blaming women for rape and pondering why Allah has not destroyed the United States and all homosexuals. His rhetoric is dangerous, and it quite possibly has influenced his congregants to plot unspeakable acts. Fadi Yousef Kablawi (Qablawi) was born in Amman,...

The mysterious flight between the two nations had many asking "Whodunnit?" A privately owned, unidentified Challenger 604 jet departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport, landing first in the Jordanian capital of Amman and then in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on Tuesday evening, causing many to question which Israeli decided to pay the Saudis a visit. The plane in question departed from Israel and flew to an airport in Amman, where it remained on the ground for about two minutes before taking off again and landing in the Saudi capital. After a little less than an hour, the plane, privately...

The duchess was just two-years-old and her sister Pippa was eight-months-old when their parents decided to upticks and move to Amman in May 1984. As a manager for British Airways at the time, Kate’s father Michael Middleton jumped at an opportunity to work for the company in the Jordanian capital. There Kate would spend more than two years in the Middle East from the age of two to four-years-old, where she attended an English-speaking Al Saheera nursery. Here she would pick up the country’s language before learning her own mother tongue. Mr Middleton continued to work for BA and Carole...

Saudi Arabia has granted Air India approval to operate direct flights from Delhi to Tel Aviv, sources in the Israeli flight industry told Haaretz. If confirmed, this would be the first time the Saudis are allowing commerical flights to Israel to use their airspace. According to Reuters, a spokesman for Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation denied the report, saying the agency had not granted Air India permission to operate direct flights from Delhi to Tel Aviv. If true, Riyadh's approval would mean that the duration of flights from India to Israel will be shortened by two-and-a-half hours, compared...

Pilot Yousef Dajah widely praised in Jordan after he told his passengers that their Amman-NY flight path would take them over “Jerusalem, capital of Palestine”; “He knew there were many Americans on the flight, but he did it anyway,” says co-pilot.The pilot of a Royal Jordanian fight enjoyed praise in his country after he announced to passengers on the in-flight PA system that the plane was flying over “Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine” and along the Palestine Mediterranean coast. His announcement on flight RJ216 from Amman to NYC was greeted with enthusiastic applause by the passengers and a recording of...

FBI: Terror suspect plotted fuel attackAl-Marabh planned to blow up tunnelJail informant reported `martyr' bid JOHN SOLOMONASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - Nabil al-Marabh, who ran a print shop with his uncle in Toronto, plotted to steal a fuel tanker truck and blow it up in one of the heavily travelled tunnels between New Jersey and Manhattan, FBI documents allege. Al-Marabh, 36, was arrested Sept. 19, 2001, in Chicago in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. His arrest prompted an RCMP raid of his uncle's copy shop on Charles St. in Toronto. The U.S. deported him...

Amman, Jordan — Hacker-activists across the world have launched an online war against the so-called Islamic State, targeting the web-savvy jihadists’ vast Internet network of supporters and suspected sleeper cells. But bureaucracy at a wary FBI and stringent US laws against hacking are slowing these efforts to take down the IS web forums and social media accounts, experts and analysts say. As a result, they say, the jihadists are opting to base their web operations on US-hosted sites in order to take advantage of US legal protections. Various groups of anonymous citizen hackers are taking on the jihadists, including Ghost...

On a dusty hill in the suburbs of Amman, the capital of Jordan, I visited the late King Hussein's magnificent automobile collection, opened to the public as a museum. Amid rows of gleaming motorcycles, I passed a brightly-coloured Japanese racer and a low-riding American chopper, and my eyes fell on one dark model that stood behind them. This, a placard told me, was a Brough Superior, British-made and once common in Jordan as a motorcycle used for military purposes. Jordan is an island of peace and stability in a sea of turmoil. There is almost nowhere in the region that...

The new report issued Monday is the first to tackle LGBT rights since Jordanian Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was named U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, called for all countries to provide legal protections for same sex couples and their children in a report issued Monday. Hussein stopped short of recommending countries to call those protections “marriage,” but the report suggested that whatever these partnerships are called, they should make all the same protections available to same-sex couples. “States should address discrimination by: …. Providing legal recognition...

The Saudi man arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force yesterday in Idaho has ties to close associates of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and to four Arab men charged at the same time with channeling funds to Iraq. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen – a University of Idaho doctoral candidate supported by the Saudi government – was a terrorist bagman, according to a federal criminal justice source quoted by a Seattle newspaper. Saudi student Sami Omar al-Hussayen "He's in touch with people who could pick up the phone, call [bin Laden], and he would take the call," the source told the...

Amman-based hip-hop band Torabyeh say ruling party put their lives at risk by linking them to Islamic State Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpVwW_bfEQM Members of the Amman-based alternative hip-hop group Torabyeh accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday of putting their lives at serious risk by linking them with terrorism and associating them with Islamic State fighters, following the apparently illegal use of a rap song performed by the band in a controversial campaign ad posted online by the Likud party Saturday night. “In the last propaganda video released by the Israeli Likud Party which is headed by the criminal Benjamin Netanyahu (Zionist...

Queen Rania of Jordan led protests on the streets of the capital Amman this morning as thousands took to the streets after Friday prayers to urge King Abdullah II to step up airstrikes against the Islamic State to avenge the brutal murder of pilot Moaz al-Kasaesbeh. Crowds massed near the city's main Husseini mosque, then marched chanting 'Death to Daesh', using a derogatory Arabic acronym for the terror group, in the latest sign of mounting public anger. The rally came three days after Islamic State released a video purporting to show Kasaesbeh being burnt alive in a cage as masked...

AMMAN/TOKYO - An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist being held by Islamic State militants said a Jordanian air force pilot also captured by the group would be killed unless an Iraqi female prisoner in Jordan was released by sunset on Thursday. The message appeared to postpone a previous deadline set on Tuesday in which the journalist, Kenji Goto, said he would be killed within 24 hours if the Iraqi was not freed. The latest audio recording, which could not be verified by Reuters, was posted on YouTube early on Thursday. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "I'm pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to AFP. The top U.S. diplomat added that PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli negotiator Justice Minister Tzipi Livni would meet him in Washington "to begin initial talks within the next week or so." In his brief comments to the press, Kerry praised the courage of PA Chairman...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Friday the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "I'm pleased to announce that we've reached an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kerry told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to AFP. "This is a significant and welcome step forward,” he added. “The agreement is still in the process of being finalized so we are absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now." The top U.S. diplomat added that PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli...

SNIPPET: "The U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa announced Thursday that a grand jury has indicted Shelton Thomas Bell, 19, of Jacksonville, on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two charges. According to the indictment, Bell had planned to travel to the Arabian Peninsula and join Ansar Al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaida there. The group has taken responsibility for multiple attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a parade in May 2012, which killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers. The...

US President Barack Obama has pledged to Jordan an additional $200m (£131m) to help deal with the growing number of Syrian refugees in the country. After talks in Amman, Mr Obama said the funds - if backed by Congress - would help provide more humanitarian aid. Some 450,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring Jordan since the unrest began in 2011, putting huge pressure on the Jordanian authorities. Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah ruled out closing Jordan's border with Syria. President Obama said he would ask Congress to provide additional funds as "budget support" to help the Syrian refugees. He said this...

The final “exploratory” meeting between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization ended Wednesday in Amman with no progress, official said. PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli attorney Yitzchak Mocho made little headway in their fifth meeting, the last before the January 26 deadline set by the Quartet of peacekeeping nations to break the impasse and relaunch direct talks for a final status agreement between the two sides. "Israel has not advanced one step towards resuming negotiations,” a PLO representative told the AFP news agency. Nevertheless, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh characterized the talks as “serious” despite the disagreements on both...