[News] Jordan cracks down on pro-Palestine activism in largest arrest campaign since 1989

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Jordan cracks down on pro-Palestine activism in largest arrest campaign
since 1989: Report

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel are reportedly behind Amman’s new
campaign, which has seen hundreds detained

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

JUL 16, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/jordan-cracks-down-on-pro-palestine-activism-in-largest-arrest-campaign-since-1989-report
(Photo credit: Reuters)

The Jordanian government has been carrying out a heavy crackdown on people
who have expressed solidarity with the besieged Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip, sources told *Middle East Eye *
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordan-targeting-gaza-solidarity-largest-arrest-campaign-decades>(MEE)
on 15 July.

“A widespread campaign led by the General Intelligence Department (GID) is
targeting activists and anyone who has sent financial donations or other
kinds of support to the victims of Israel’s war on Gaza,” several sources
inside Jordan confirmed to MEE.

Hundreds of people have been detained or questioned as part of this
campaign.

“The investigation was done purely for the sake of Israel. Jordan had
nothing to do with it,” an anonymous detainee is cited as telling the
outlet.

A Jordanian political source told MEE that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are two
of the forces pushing for this crackdown, adding that Amman hopes to secure
financial aid from the two Gulf states in return. Saudi Arabia and Israel
are also involved in the push, according to the political source.

The report added that people are being detained and interrogated without
charge.

“Most of the arrested are interrogated and then released without anyone
knowing what has happened to them,” other detainees said. “Intelligence
officers have threatened those they arrest and told them not to say
anything about what has happened to them. They are told that if they do
reveal anything, they will be re-arrested.”

Jordanian intelligence also told detainees that they were not to disclose
the reasons for their disappearance.

“Aside from the hundreds of people who have been arrested, others are told
to voluntarily report for interrogation in daylight hours. At the end of
the day, they are told to report back again the next day, with the process
often continuing for several days. Most, if not all, of the detainees were
interrogated about their solidarity with Gaza. The investigations focused
on sending donations, financial support, or in-kind aid to the war’s
victims,” the sources revealed.

It has been described by Jordanians as the “largest crackdown in decades.”
Many are being held without access to lawyers or trials. A campaign of this
size has not been launched since the 1989 riots and protests against
government cuts on food subsidies.

The sources also say that public anger about the situation is starting to
grow, particularly over the unknown fate of many prisoners.

The campaign is focusing on Palestine supporters as well as opposition
groups and political Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which was
banned
<https://thecradle.co/articles/jordan-bans-muslim-brotherhood-for-disturbing-public-order>
in Jordan in April.

The banning of the Muslim Brotherhood came after Jordanian security
services said they found rocket and drone manufacturing facilities outside
the capital, Amman. The rockets being made had a range of three to five
kilometers, according to the official statement at the time.

Amman said the plot
<https://thecradle.co/articles/jordan-foils-muslim-brotherhood-linked-plot-to-sow-internal-chaos>
was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. It claimed 16 Muslim
Brotherhood-linked individuals were arrested in connection with the case
and had previously undergone technical training in Lebanon.

Some of these weapons were allegedly bound for resistance groups in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Muslim Brotherhood elements have participated in the Jordanian protests
against Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza since the war began in 2023.
Many of these protests took place outside the Israeli embassy in Jordan and
were suppressed <https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24051> by the authorities.
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