Abdelraouf al-Rawabdeh (Arabic: عبد الرؤوف الروابدة‎; born 18 February 1939 in Irbid) was Prime Minister of Jordan from 4 March 1999 until 19 June 2000, a leading political figure from the north city of Irbid in Jordan.In a speech which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 27, 2009 (as translated by MEMRI) Al-Rawabdeh described the state of Israel as "a cancerous body" which can be confronted "in one of two ways: If you have the power, you use it to eradicate the cancer.