Following the drama on Thursday when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was forced to cancel his scheduled trip to the United Arab Emirates due to a dispute with Jordan and his wife’s hospitalization, a Yisrael Hayom report said that the prime minister’s political rivals were involved in torpedoing his trip.

The report said that according to a senior Jordanian official, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak made extensive efforts to instigate Jordanian King Abdullah II into refusing Israel’s request to enters its airspace so as not to allow Netanyahu to visit the UAE prior to the March 23 election – calling attention to his diplomatic achievements.

“High-ranking Israeli political officials and former Israeli security officials cooperated with Amman to torpedo Netanyahu’s visit to the UAE, after Crown Prince Hussein’s visit to the Temple Mount was called off,” a senior government official in Amman told Yisrael Hayom.

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.”

Yisrael Hayom said that the Crown Prince was scheduled to meet with Lapid during his planned visit to Israel on Wednesday to visit the Temple Mount. Apparently, Netanyahu canceled the trip for this reason, using the extra security guards as an excuse.

Lapid’s office responded to the report by stating: “We have no idea on what this is talking about. No such meeting was ever scheduled.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)