Last month, Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Israeli-Arab party Ra’am, had an audience with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman, although the meeting only became public knowledge this week. Since June, the king has also met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog, while the two countries’ respective economic ministers met just last week. Ron Ben-Yishai explains what Abdullah stood to gain from his tête-à-tête with Abbas:

Abbas’s visit to Amman could work to strengthen U.S. support of Jordan while the kingdom is in desperate need of economic assistance from Washington and from Jerusalem. . . . But there may [also] be an internal Jordanian political motivation to the public meeting with Abbas. The palace has been facing mounting pressure over Jordan’s economic crisis. Last month’s report that the king had squirreled away $100 million in tax havens while his subjects are struggling to make ends meet has caused him a great embarrassment.

Abdullah’s main opposition comes from Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood; a photo opportunity with Abbas, an Islamist, could help defuse some of that tension. Jordan’s Bedouin tribes, devout Muslims themselves, are the main supporters of the palace but they too have much criticism of the king. The Ra’am party represents many Bedouin tribes in Israel who have family ties to tribes in Jordan; by honoring Abbas, Abdullah could hope to appease some of his critics.

After several weeks of passionate political conflict in Israel over judical reform, the tensions seem to be defused, or at least dialed down, for the time being. In light of this, and in anticipation of the Passover holiday soon upon us, Eric Cohen considers the way forward for both the Jewish state and the Jewish people. (Video, 8 minutes. A text is available at the link below.)