On Monday, the Jordanian prime minister resigned in response to mass demonstrations against economic reforms, yet his resignation has failed to assuage the protestors. Oded Eran explains the circumstances that brought about the current political crisis:

The demonstrators are protesting the government’s intention to enforce more meticulous collection of taxes, raise the tax rate, and increase the prices of [such] products . . . as electricity and gasoline. [While] the king has halted the implementation of the government’s decisions, . . . monetary and fiscal hardship remains, as does the regime’s dilemma of how to overcome it.

As a country lacking any significant source of revenue, such as natural resources or advanced industry, Jordan is dependent on external financial aid, primarily from the United States, several European countries, Japan, oil-producing Arab countries in the Gulf, and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Given . . . the burden involved in absorbing 1.5 million Syrian refugees and the almost complete cessation of aid from the Gulf States, Jordan’s [sovereign] debt has intensified to the point of risking insolvency.

The policies that provoked the demonstrations were instituted, at the recommendation of the IMF, to ease the debt crisis—leaving Jordan on the horns of a dilemma. Although Eran argues that the protests don’t pose a threat to the regime itself, he notes that the underlying problems won’t go away anytime soon—and that should concern Israel:

Israel has a great interest in preserving the stability of Jordan and its ruling regime. Despite Jordan’s public conduct in the international arena regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which is irritating as far as Israel is concerned, it is important to remember Jordan’s direct and indirect contribution to Israeli security, which includes serving in recent years as a buffer zone between Israel and Islamic State. Israel can assist Jordan’s economy and budget, for example, by importing agricultural and industrial products, such as mortar. On a larger scale, Israel can reduce the cost of the water it sells to Jordan, transport some of its exports to the Far East via the Gulf of Aqaba, and demonstrate a willingness to purchase solar electricity from Jordan.

While it is commendable that administrators of several universities finally called upon police to crack down on violent and disruptive anti-Israel protests, the actions they have taken may be insufficient. At Columbia, demonstrators reestablished their encampment on the main quad after it had been cleared by the police, and the university seems reluctant to use force again. The school also decided to hold classes remotely until the end of the semester. Such moves, whatever their merits, do nothing to fix the factors that allowed campuses to become hotbeds of pro-Hamas activism in the first place. The editors of National Review examine how things go to this point:

Since the 10/7 massacre, Columbia’s Jewish students have been forced to endure routine calls for their execution. It shouldn’t have taken the slaughter, rape, and brutalization of Israeli Jews to expose chants like “Globalize the intifada” and “Death to the Zionist state” as calls for violence, but the university refused to intervene on behalf of its besieged students. When an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside Columbia’s library, it occasioned little soul-searching from faculty. Indeed, it served only as the impetus to establish an “Anti-Semitism Task Force,” which subsequently expressed “serious concerns” about the university’s commitment to enforcing its codes of conduct against anti-Semitic violators.

But little was done. Indeed, as late as last month the school served as host to speakers who praised the 10/7 attacks and even “hijacking airplanes” as “important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

The school’s lackadaisical approach created a permission structure to menace and harass Jewish students, and that’s what happened. . . . Now is the time finally to do something about this kind of harassment and associated acts of trespass and disorder. Yale did the right thing when police cleared out an encampment [on Monday]. But Columbia remains a daily reminder of what happens when freaks and haters are allowed to impose their will on campus.