The Anger in Jordan's Streets

AMMAN, Jordan—The family of Mohammad Jawawdeh, the 16-year-old Jordanian who was killed by an Israeli embassy guard on Sunday night, lives on the southern outskirts of Amman, near a large concrete lot. On Monday, the family had already set up a mourning tent there for the relatives and neighbors who came to grieve the teenager’s death. They arranged rows of chairs and carpets for praying, printed photos of their lost son with the words “Martyr of the Embassy” underneath, and served dates and cold water to everyone who came.

That tent was still standing on Thursday, after the teenager’s funeral and three-day wake were attended by hundreds of Jordanians, journalists, and King Abdullah II himself, but with one difference: Someone had painted a large Israeli flag on the floor—so that everyone coming to visit would step on it—with the words “Death to Israel” underneath.

Last Sunday afternoon, Jawawdeh’s father had