Jordan has responded to a May 2026 investigative report by Middle East Eye alleging a US-Israeli plan to end Hashemite Custodianship of Jerusalem’s holy sites.1 The report claimed that Israel and the United States are “actively working” to subvert Jordan’s historic role in protecting al-Haram al-Sharif.

According to the report, the goal is to implement “a new arrangement that would see the management of the revered Muslim site closely align with Israeli interests.” Namely, the Islamic Waqf Council that has long managed the holy site would “abruptly end” and be replaced by a new Israeli body that would “declare the Al-Aqsa Mosque a ‘multi-faith centre’” and “grant Jews ‘equal access’ to the Muslim site and formally allow large-group Jewish prayer.”

When questioned, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared surprised. “I’m not even aware of those reports . . . I’ve never heard that,” he said in a congressional hearing about the matter.2 Rubio then stressed the “great” partnership between the US and Jordan. Despite Rubio’s assurance, Amman was concerned.

Jordan responded to the report with a concerted press campaign through its foreign ministry, including issuing a joint diplomatic statement on June 2, 2026 with the foreign ministers of Türkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates condemning the continued violations of the sanctity of the site and all attempts to alter the status there.3 The statement read, in part:

The focus was affirming Jordan’s historical religious and legal legitimacy in Jerusalem, which is recognized internationally and protected by the long-standing Status Quo. Israel has been violating tstatuhe agreement for decades, despite repeated condemnation by Jordanian and international authorities (see Police Tighten Siege on al-Aqsa Mosque to Force Waqf to Submit to Israeli Control).

With the rising extremism of Israeli leaders since the war on Gaza started in October 2023, especially far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, radical Jewish settlers have been storming al-Haram al-Sharif amid armed escort, “raising the Israeli flag,” dancing, and performing rituals at the site.5 The Jordanian foreign ministry joined a number of other foreign ministers of Arab and Islamic countries in condemning these actions as progressively eroding the meaning of the Status Quo.6

Jordanian parliamentary and interfaith representatives intervened, as well as concerned Muslim figures in Jerusalem and abroad. Ismail Patel, chair of the UK-based NGO Friends of Al-Aqsa, published an op-ed in Middle East Eye in June 2026 warning that Israel’s increasing encroachment on al-Aqsa Mosque “is the culmination of a systematic campaign to erase the Islamic presence in Occupied Jerusalem and a direct call upon Muslims worldwide to awaken from a dangerous and complicit slumber.”9

In an op-ed, Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway, member of the Hashemite Fund for the Restoration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and the Islamic Waqf Council in Jerusalem, sounded the alarm: “Tampering with the Hashemite Status Quo at Jerusalem’s holy sites would put the region and the world on a collision course.”10 The Palestinian Authority (PA) released a similar statement, warning of “serious repercussions” should Jordan be stripped of its custodianship.11

Even Israeli legal experts weighed in. Daniel Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, an NGO that tracks Israeli settlement growth in East Jerusalem, explained that the move would lead to an “outbreak of violence.”12 He confirmed the allegations of “a US proposal to replace/annul Jordanian custodianship over Al Aqsa,” and cautioned that “Jordanian custodianship is absolutely essential to maintaining the stability of Al Aqsa.”13

A delegation of Jordanian lawmakers and interfaith leaders at the 33rd General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO), which brought together representatives from 11 countries for five days in Helsinki in June 2026, called for renewed efforts to protect Christian communities and advance interfaith dialogue amid growing tensions globally.

Jordanian parliamentarian Hayel Ayyash spoke of Jordan’s significance to Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and urged attendees to support “the political, economic, and security conditions that enable Christians to remain in their homelands and participate in building the nation.”14

The US Secretary of State’s denial of knowledge of a threat to Jordan’s custodianship of al-Aqsa Mosque thus did not assuage the concerns of leaders in Amman, Jerusalem, and beyond, who are seeing with their own eyes the deterioration of the Status Quo agreement at al-Aqsa Mosque, not to mention the takeover of the Ibrahimi Mosque (see Past as Prologue? To Read Israeli Designs on al-Aqsa Mosque, Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque Offers Chilling Clues). Sources in the Jerusalem Waqf Council told Jerusalem Story that they are taking these threats seriously, organizing emergency meetings to strategize measures to protect al-Aqsa Mosque.

A major concern, however, is the upcoming Israeli elections this fall. If Netanyahu and his extremist government are voted out, they might retaliate by carrying out even more provocative and violent acts on Palestinian Jerusalem, especially al-Aqsa Mosque.