Israel apologizes to Jordan over embassy shooting

Israel confirmed Thursday it had reached a deal with Jordan over a shooting incident last July at the Israeli embassy in Amman that left two Jordanians dead.

“Israel and Jordan have reached an agreement over the shooting incident which occurred at the Israeli embassy in Amman in which an Israeli security guard killed two Jordanians,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

“The Israeli embassy in Jordan will return to full operation immediately,” the statement added.

In July 2017, an Israeli security guard shot dead two Jordanian workers in a residential building for Israeli embassy staff after he was stabbed by one of them with a screwdriver.

According to the statement, the two countries also reached an agreement over a shooting incident in March 2014 when a Jordanian judge was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers at the Allenby Bridge Border Crossing between Israel and Jordan.

“Israeli authorities will continue to investigate the material relating to the incident in July 2017 and are expected to reach a decision in the coming weeks," the statement said.

"Israel attaches great importance to the strategic relations with Jordan, and the states will act to promote cooperation between them and to strengthen the peace agreement."

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani was quoted by the state news agency Petra as saying that Jordan’s Foreign Ministry had on Thursday received an official memorandum from the Israeli Foreign Ministry in which it expressed regret and apologized to Jordan over the shooting incident at its embassy.

“The memorandum expressed the Israeli government's commitment to resume cooperation with the government of Jordan and resolve this issue,” Momani said.