Israel retains its interest in the stability of the present regime in Jordan even though King Hussein has formally aligned himself with Iraq, Foreign Minister David Levy declared here Thursday.
He said the king’s speech in Amman on Wednesday ending his professed neutrality in the Persian Gulf war was “very sad and problematic.”
Israel continues to hope that the king will maintain control over his country, Levy said in a television interview, adding that Israel has made that position clear to Jordan “these very days” in discreet ways.
King Hussein maintained that the Gulf war was aimed against “all Arabs and all Moslems, not against Iraq alone,” and is intended to assert “foreign hegemony” in the Middle East.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker asserted a similar policy in testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. He said the United States saw no desirable alternative in Jordan to King Hussein’s Hashemite regime.
Levy said he was gratified by U.S. expressions of readiness-in-principle to give favorable consideration to special aid requests from Israel. He indicated he would be meeting with Baker shortly, “either here or there” and that the aid issue would be closely examined.
But Levy discouraged media speculation over specific figures. He stressed that Israel had no intention of “exploiting” the war situation and the fact that it sustained direct and indirect damage through enemy action.
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