Housing minister gets seven bodyguards for five hours in Petra
Bayit Yehudi's Uri Ariel made trip despite travel warning for Israelis, received top-level security detail from both Israel and Jordan.
Housing Minister Uri Ariel and his wife traveled to Petra, Jordan, on Monday for a brief, private visit, accompanied by seven security guards – three Israeli and four Jordanian. In total, Ariel and his wife spent just five hours on Jordanian soil.
In place at present for Israelis is a travel advisory against trips to Jordan issued by the National Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Bureau, which warns of "ongoing threats and hostility towards Israel on the part of sections of the Jordanian public."
According to the bureau, all these "constitute a threat to Israelis in Jordan." The warning, nevertheless, is the bureau's lowest-level advisory and is defined as "a fundamental concrete threat."
This threat, however, does not deter many Israelis, and tens of thousands visit Jordan every year, with the Red Rock City of Petra their favored destination. And Minister Ariel and his wife wanted a brief tour of Petra too – as Channel 2 News reported on Tuesday.
Ariel informed his office's security chief, who in turn informed the Shin Bet security service's VIP Protection Unit. In general, government ministers are not eligible for a security detail when traveling abroad on private holidays; in this instance, however, the destination, on the one hand, was an Arab state, and Ariel, on the other hand, is a high-profile and threatened individual. The Shin Bet chose therefore not to take any chances and went for tight security and coordination with the Jordanians.
Israel informed the Jordanians, and they in turn went to the trouble of providing massive security. Israel, too, sent bodyguards from the Prime Minister's Office who accompanied Ariel in an armored vehicle to and from the Red Rock City.
"The minister's brief visit to Petra was arranged well in advance and with the approval of all necessary parties. At no point in time before the trip did we receive a request from the security elements to cancel the visit," read a statement released by Ariel's office.
