Israel arrests Jordanian lawmaker on arms-smuggling charges

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Israeli authorities have arrested a Jordanian lawmaker on suspicion of smuggling weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank, Jordan's Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The lawmaker has been identified as Imad Al-Adwan. Jordanian media reports Al-Adwan was arrested Saturday at the Allenby Bridge border crossing while trying to enter the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali said Jordanian officials were following the case "to find out the merits of the situation and address it as soon as possible." 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Israeli Foreign Ministry for comment. 

The incident threatens to strain further the tense relations between Jordan and its neighbor Israel.

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"The Jordanian parliament has long been a stage for the worst kind of anti-Israel vitriol. Now, it appears one of its members has shifted from speech to action," Joe Truzman, Research Analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said in a statement. 

"This would continue a major breach of both the word and the spirit of the almost three-decade peace treaty between Jordan and Israel. Amman should make amends, and publicly, fast." 

A car drives past a road signal indicating the Allenby (King Hussein) bridge crossing point to Jordan (background), in the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, on January 28, 2021. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence over the past year. Israel says the area has been flooded with illegal weapons, including guns smuggled from neighboring Jordan.

Over 90 Palestinians and 18 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year. Israel says most of the Palestinians were wanted militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting army incursions and people not involved in confrontations have also been killed. All but one of the Israelis killed were civilians.

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Since Israel's Netanyahu-led government took office, relations with Jordan have deteriorated over Israeli settlement construction, violence in the West Bank and policies over holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.