GAZA PROTESTS CONTINUE IN JORDAN, CALLS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000129

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2019
TAGS: PREL ECON KWBG KPAL KDEM IS EG VE JO
SUBJECT: GAZA PROTESTS CONTINUE IN JORDAN, CALLS FOR
BOYCOTTS OF AMERICAN GOODS

REF: A. AMMAN 113 (NOTAL)

B. AMMAN 74

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Protests over events in Gaza continue, with
the Israeli and Egyptian Embassies as the primary target of
demonstrators. Calls for a boycott of Israeli and American
goods are mounting, but there is little evidence that they
will have any real impact. The call for a vote of
no-confidence in parliament has sparked divisions within a
key political bloc. INR-sponsored focus group participants
voiced uniform support for Hamas. End Summary.

Protests Continue
--------------


2. (U) On January 13, hundreds of students gathered for
sit-ins at Starbucks branches throughout Amman, chanting
slogans against supposed links between Starbucks and Israel
(including "your coffee is full of blood"). The Alshaya
Corporation, which controls Starbucks franchises in Jordan
and the rest of the Middle East, responded with flyers at
many locations which stated: "it is alleged that Starbucks
and its senior management actively support Israel. This
allegation is unequivocally not true." Protesters also
returned to the Israeli Embassy, the site of ongoing
demonstrations, some of which were dispersed with tear gas
during the week of January 8. On January 13, protesters also
burned pictures depicting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
with a star of David on his forehead and called for the
opening of the Rafah border crossing. During the protest,
IAF leader Zaki Beni-Irshaid told reporters that "Egypt is
required to exert a real effort - one that is within its
power - to stop the aggression on Gaza, open the Rafah border
crossing, and expel the Zionist ambassador." Egyptian
PolCouns Shady Al-Sharkawi suggested in a message to PolChief
that the demonstrations were "not as big or tough as they
appear on the news" and that the embassy staff had "gotten
used to" the steady stream of protests.

Boycott Calls Intensify
--------------


3. (C) Islamist-linked trade unions, political parties, and
NGOs are calling for a consumer boycott of Israeli and
American goods. Islamist and anti-normalization groups in
Jordan frequently call for boycotts, but their impact is
often small or non-existent. Recent examples of half-hearted
actions include a boycott of Danish dairy products following
the publishing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed and
a boycott of Dutch goods followed the release of a film
critical of Islam by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. Badi
Al-Rafayah, head of the Trade Unionist Committee for
Resisting Normalization, equated the current boycott of
American goods with "refusing to submit to the occupiers'
will." Union members are scheduled to unfurl on January 14 a
large banner in the popular Sweifieh shopping district, home
to many emboffs, and pass out leaflets urging a boycott of
American and Israeli goods. American Chamber of Commerce CEO
Mustafa Mustafa told poloff that the boycott would "not be
effective in the long term" but that he has heard grumblings
from businesses linked to the U.S. over the past several
days. For example, the company managing outlets of Burger
King, Fuddruckers, and Popeyes reported to FAS LES a 25%
decrease in sales, and McDonald's reports a decline of 30%.


Repercussions in Parliament
--------------


4. (U) Internet news site Ammon News reported on January 14
that MP Tareq Khoury's call for a no-confidence vote in the
government of PM Nader Dahabi was making waves in Jordan's
parliament (Ref A). Members of Khoury's parliamentary
grouping, the normally progressive and business-oriented
National Fraternal Bloc (Ikha'),are apparently split over
whether to back Khoury's efforts or repudiate them. On
January 12, Ikha' members received a text message calling for
an emergency meeting to discuss the bloc's stance on Gaza,
but the meeting was later postponed to let passions cool in
the wake of Khoury's statement. Some members of the bloc are
upset that Khoury failed to consult his colleagues in the
bloc before issuing his statement, while others sympathize
with his call for a no-confidence vote.


5. (U) A group of MPs visited the Venezuelan Embassy on
January 13 to express their appreciation for the expulsion of
the Israeli Ambassador. This follows a similar visit by
members of the Islamist-led Higher Coordinating Council of
National Opposition Parties to the Venezuelan Embassy during

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the week of January 8, in which they presented Venezuelan
diplomats with bouquets and laid wreaths of flowers at the
embassy gates.

Further Reaction
--------------


6. (C) Observers here are speculating now on effects of Gaza
events on the peace process. Oraib Rantawi, Director of the
Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, asserted to poloff on
January 12 that the King and Royal Court believe that
Israel's Gaza operation is the beginning of the end for a
two-state solution. Rantawi assessed that when the King
spoke publicly of an international conspiracy against the
Palestinians, his unstated meaning was that there was a
conspiracy against Jordan (Ref A). Indeed, after Rantawi
offered this analysis in an Al-Dustour column, the Royal
Court called him up to thank him directly for drawing that
conclusion.


7. (C) Recent events dominated a January 14 INR-sponsored
focus group session on food security, in which participants
declared Gaza the primary topic of conversation in Jordan and
the region. The group uniformly portrayed the incursion as
an act of aggression on Israel's part (as opposed to
legitimate self-defense on the part of Hamas). One woman
wondered aloud, "why can't the United States judge Israel in
the way that they judged Saddam?" Another voiced support for
Venezuela's expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador.
Participants were skeptical about the ability of the
President-Elect to change American policy, commenting that
"the new one already has the policies of the old one." They
interpreted what they consider to be Mr. Obama's relative
silence on the issue as tacit support for Israel's action and
a sign that America's perceived pro-Israel stance would
continue.
Beecroft