Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25 with Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Einat Shlain (left) and Ziv Moyal, the Israeli embassy security guard who was attacked before shooting his assailant and a bystander in Amman. Photo: Haim Zach / GPO.

JNS.org – More than a month after an Israeli embassy security guard who was stabbed by a Jordanian national returned to the Jewish state after a tense diplomatic standoff, Israel’s Ambassador to Jordan Einat Shlain and embassy staffers have still not returned to the Arab country.

Tensions remain high between the two nations, with the Hashemite kingdom refusing to allow Shlain and her diplomatic team to return to their posts in Amman. Reports state that Israel may be forced to appoint a new ambassador to Jordan in order to reinstate normal diplomatic relations.

Shlain and embassy guard Ziv Moyal returned to Israel after Jordan sought to detain and interrogate the guard, who shot dead his assailant and a bystander after being stabbed with a screwdriver in Amman.

Upon their return to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted Shlain and Moyal in a welcoming event at his office July 25 in Jerusalem. Jordan’s King Abdullah blasted Netanyahu’s “political showmanship” and demanded that Moyal face “justice.”

Israel described the guard’s actions as “self-defense,” and Moyal’s family relocated to a relative’s residence over fear of retaliation after a Jordanian newspaper published a photo of his diplomatic ID card.

An Israel Police investigation into the Amman incident is ongoing, and Israel-Jordan diplomatic relations remain frozen in the meantime, with no visas being issued.