Israel and Jordan were working to calm the waters on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled historic first visit to the United Arab Emirates was cancelled following a diplomatic incident between Israel and Jordan.
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Netanyahu's scheduled visit to the United Arab Emirates was held up on Thursday morning when Jordan announced it would not allow Netanyahu's aircraft to cross its airspace en route to the United Arab Emirates,.
Officials think that the Jordanian decision, which was announced only shortly before the flight was scheduled to take off, was a response to Israel's decision to cancel a visit to the Temple Mount that had been scheduled for Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah on Wednesday over disagreements about security protocols.
Israel Hayom has learned that the prince intended to visit the Temple Mount to pray prior to making the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Officials in the UAE told Israel Hayom on Thursday afternoon that it appeared that Netanyahu's visit would most likely not take place as originally scheduled.
A senior government official in Amman told Israel Hayom that "high-ranking Israeli political officials and former Israeli security officials cooperated with Amman to torpedo Netanyahu's visit to the UAE, after Prince Hussein's visit to the Temple Mount was called off."
The official added that "Jordan and Israel will need to find a way to lower the flames and end the diplomatic incident, which has embarrassed both sides. King Abdullah has taken many calls from Israeli officials, who argued that the instruction not to allow some of Prince Hussein's armed security detail to cross Allenby Bridge came from the Prime Minister's Office."
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