Free Republic

With most of the votes counted and no decisive outcome as far as who the next Prime Minister will be, or if Israel will be headed to an unprecedented fifth national election in less than three years, one thing is clear, the big winners in Israel’s national election this week were Israeli Arabs. One might have said that a year ago, after Israel’s third national election in (what was then) a year. Then, the “Joint Arab List,” a faction made up of four Arab political parties running together, won a striking 15 seats in Israel’s Knesset (parliament). This made the...

The quiet, sandy streets of the southern Jordanian city of Ma'an belie the pro-jihadi sentiments simmering just under the surface. Black graffiti showing the ISIS flag defaces walls and shopfronts on the main road, the backstreets where children walk to school, and roundabouts where cars packed with families speed past. One hundred and fifty miles south of the capital, Amman, Ma'an has always been known as a rebellious city in Jordan. For decades it has been at the center of repeated episodes of violent riots and confrontations with the security forces.

“Ma’an is the Falluja of Jordan!” shouted thousands of Bedouin Saturday, June 28, in the southern Jordanian town of Ma’an. This legend was inscribed on the placards and flags they bore aloft with one hand in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). In the other, they waved automatic rifles. Ma’an (pop: 50,000) is in a sensitive location: 218 km south of Amman, it also lies 104 km from the Israeli port town of Eilat and some 60 km from the main artery cutting south from northern Israel to the south. But although pro-Al Qaeda...

Jordanian officials started collecting weapons from residents of Maan on Thursday. Caches of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making materials, have been seized, authorities said. The Jordanian government has declared the city of Ma'an a demilitarized zone, banning holding or possessing of any types of weapons without the approval of the interior minister. It said Jordan would not compromise on its security or the higher national interests. At its regular meeting on Wednesday, the cabinet was updated by Interior Minister Qaftan al-Majali on the progress of the security campaign in Ma'an. Meanwhile, the Egyptian news agency MENA reported that the...