Tuesday marked 70 years since Jordanian King Abdullah I was assassinated by a Palestinian on the Temple Mount, as Abdullah was visiting Jerusalem to meet with Israeli officials amid his efforts to reach a settlement with Israel.
Abdullah was assassinated at the age of 69 by a Palestinian gunman while exiting al-Aqsa Mosque after Friday prayers with his grandson Hussein.
The assassin, Mustafa Shukri Ashshu, was associated with the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini, who sparked riots against Jews in Mandatory Palestine and was close with Adolf Hitler during World War II. Those associated with the ex-mufti were "bitter enemies" of Abdullah, as the ex-mufti supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, which Abdullah seemed to have thwarted by annexing the West Bank, according to a Guardian article from the day after the assassination.
