Jordanian border authorities reportedly barred a group of Israeli tourists from entering the country last weekend because they were wearing Jewish skullcaps.
The group was reportedly planning to travel to the Tomb of Aaron, the supposed burial place of the brother of Moses from the Bible, located near Petra.
There was no immediate explanation given by Jordan for denying the group entry to the country.
The incident reported Sunday by Channel 2 was the second of its kind in the past year.
In response, a Foreign Ministry official said that after the previous incident, Jordan explained said it was a one-off mistake by border officials, and that regulations would be clarified. The Foreign Ministry diplomat told Channel 2 that Jerusalem was seeking clarification for the incident.
Last December Jordan’s border guards prevented an Israeli family from crossing into the Hashemite Kingdom because the husband and sons were wearing kippot, according to the wife.
Tamar Gvirtz-Hayardeni said she, her husband and their three children were trying to cross the Israel-Jordan border at Eilat for a short trip when they were detained and finally prevented from entry completely because the males in her family were wearing traditional Jewish headgear.
At one point, she said, one of the Jordanian officials took their kippot away from them without explanation.
Despite clarifying to border guards that they did not intend to wear the kippot once they had crossed the border, they were told that it was not permitted to enter Jordan with “Jewish items.”
“The Jordanians may want Israelis, but they don’t want Jews,” Gvirtz-Hayardeni wrote in a Facebook post.
A Channel 2 report said another Israeli Jew, traveling with his tefillin, was also turned away at the border crossing.
Read more at Times of Israel
