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Jordanian king, Sudanese military ruler congratulate Netanyahu on election win
November 14, 2022
Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Monday phoned Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on his election victory, the prime minister’s designate office said.
The statement on the call gave no further details and there was no official confirmation from Jordan. Netanyahu and Abdullah had a prickly relationship when the Likud leader was last in power, with ties between Amman and Jerusalem deteriorating significantly.
The call was Netanyahu’s latest with a foreign leader since his right-religious bloc won a majority of seats in the November 1 vote, amid international hand-wringing over his far-right coalition partners. Netanyahu’s office also said Monday that he received a congratulatory letter from Sudan’s military ruler, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Monday’s call with Abdullah came after Netanyahu spoke with several other leaders of Arab states that have ties with Israel, including UAE President and Abu Dhabi ruler Mohammed Bin Zayed, and Bahraini Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
The normalization process with Sudan has been largely frozen amid political turmoil in Khartoum that saw the military carry out a coup last year, ending a two-year power-sharing arrangement aimed at paving the way to civilian rule.
Nonetheless, military leader al-Burhan has expressed interest in pushing normalization and even visiting Israel.
In a message received Monday, al-Burhan congratulated Netanyahu and said he “expects to continue the cooperation between us to advance ties in all fields for the benefit of citizens in both countries,” according to Netanyahu’s office.
Netanyahu met with Burhan ahead of the agreement during a visit to Uganda in February 2020.
Netanyahu was formally tasked with forming a government on Sunday and has been holding coalition negotiations with his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies, who together with his Likud party will hold 64 of 120 seats in the next Knesset.