Is Queen Noor of Jordan Against the Israeli-Emirati Deal? Tweet Supporting Step-Son Suggests So

It seems that the recently announced deal between the UAE and Israel, through which the two countries initiated full diplomatic ties, is still generating a lot of criticism among Arab commentators, but to see Arab royals engage in the conversation was a whole new development.

Weeks after the first announcement made by the US President Donald Trump inaugurating full normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, two senior members of the royal family of Jordan have tweeted in opposition of the deal.

Last week, Prince Ali Bin Hussein, the half brother of King Abdullah II and a popular figure for his role in the world of sports, tweeted a commentary article written by the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim questioning the deal between the UAE and Israel, before he had to remove it due to it including the main image that was deemed as offending of Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zayed. Prince Ali had posted the article without the main image again a few hours later drawing a storm of attacks by pro-Emirati commentators before removing it again.

Translation: "Dear Jordanians, HM Queen Noor Al Hussein is clearly asking you to show solidarity with Prince Ali bin Al Hussein."

Yesterday, and amid full silence on behalf of Jordanian officials, Queen Noor of Jordan shared an article via Twitter in support of Prince Ali against continuous cyber attacks he has been facing.

The tweet, posted by the Queen dowager of Jordan, stirred even more controversy as it highlighted the increasing involvement of members of the royal family in politics, despite decades of neutral stances. 

Queen Noor had also gone viral two weeks ago when she tweeted a Human Rights Watch report criticizing Jordan's deteriorating record of freedom of the press.

Additionally, Queen Noor had retweeted statements posted by the HRW executive director; in which he expressed his concerns that the UAE-Israel deal doesn't address the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories neither does it stop Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, as per Israeli PM comments that only promised "a temporary halt."

Notably, Jordan's official stance on the UAE-Israel deal remains quite soft, suggesting that while Egypt and Jordan needed similar deals in the 1970s and 1990s respectively to end the Israeli military occupation of their lands and to end the state of war by their borders, the remaining Arab countries need to abide by the 2002 Arab league agreement of normalization with Israel only once it recognized a Palestinian state on 1967 internationally recognized borders.

Paradoxically, Jordanian authorities arrested a popular cartoonist last Wednesday after he published a caricature in rejection of the peace deal after directly portraying the Emirati Crown Prince.