A shop in Amman, Jordan. Source: Twitter/X
A new shawarma restaurant opened in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday, with a name that is causing outrage in Israel. The “October 7” restaurant, chosen via a Facebook poll by the shop’s owners last month, was given the name to mark the date of the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, when Hamas terrorists killed over 1,200 Israelis and took captive more than 240 to the Gaza Strip.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid chastised the new restaurant, tweeting: “The disgraceful glorification of October 7th has to stop. The incitement and hatred against Israel breeds the terrorism and extremism which led to the brutal massacre of October 7th. We expect the Jordanian government to condemn this publicly and unequivocally.”
According to Channel 12 News in Israel, the restaurant owners have said they will not change the name, irrespective of the outcry.
Jordan is party to a peace treaty with Israel, signed in 1994, that has allowed for general peace to flourish between the countries. Mostly this comes in the form of security, economic, and water ties, though there are levels of tourism between the two.
Despite the warm ties, Jordan’s government has not hesitated to condemn Israel during the current war against Hamas. This has included their Foreign Minister Ayman Saadi accusing the Jewish state of “genocide,” saying, “We have not seen the world yet come to the place we should come to an unequivocal demand for ending this war, a war that is within the legal definition of genocide.” The country’s Queen Rania spoke to CNN in October, just three weeks after the war started, accusing the world of double standards, saying, “When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself and condemned the attack that happened… but what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks, we’re seeing silence in the world.”
Jordan has yet to condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists against Israel.
