Jordanian lawmaker Ahmed al-Safdi said that his country “protects” Saudi Arabia and claimed that that if something wrong happens to Jordan then “the Gulf countries would fall in a matter of days.”
Safdi’s controversial remarks, aired in a video that was widely shared on Wednesday, have sparked outrage online as they have been interpreted as insulting.
“He represents only himself and does not represent our honorable brothers in Jordan,” Editor-in-chief of Jeddah-based Okaz newspaper, Muhammed Al-Ghamedi said in his twitter account.
Saudis and Jordanians alike have been using the hashtag “Safdi insults Gulf countries” to condemn Safdi’s words.
The politician also suggested that he would rather “eat dirt than talk about” appealing for financial help from Jordan’s oil-rich neighbors.
Safdi, who is the head of the parliamentary Finance Committee, made his remarks when responding to the words of Chief Justice and Imam of the Hashemite Court, Sheikh Ahmad Hilayel, who appealed for the assistance of the Gulf countries in his nationally televised sermon last Friday.
“I am calling on our brothers in the Gulf to help us. I call upon them to use some of the riches bestowed upon them by Allah to save Jordan,” Hilayel said before later resigning.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia usually enjoy warm relations. A 2013 Pew global opinion poll revealed that 88 percent of Jordanians express a favourable view of Saudi Arabia, the most positive public opinion in the region.