DUBAI: Jordan’s Queen Rania on Tuesday criticized the world’s “glaring double standard” and “deafening silence” in the face of Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.
Queen Rania emphasized, during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, that despite the prevalent Western media narrative, “this conflict did not begin on October 7th.”
“Most networks are covering the story under the title of ‘Israel at War.’ But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation wall and the barbed wire, war has never left. This is a 75-year-old story; a story of overwhelming death and displacement to the Palestinian people,” the Queen was quoted by Jordan’s official Petra news agency.
“The context of a nuclear-armed regional superpower that occupies, oppresses, and commits daily documented crimes against Palestinians is missing from the narrative.”
Queen Rania explained that the people of Jordan are united in “grief, pain, and shock” in response to the staggering civilian casualties of the past 18 days of war.
In a world exclusive, @QueenRania of Jordan spoke with me about the ongoing bombing of Gaza, civilian deaths, the massacres of October 7, and what she calls “a glaring double standard” in the west’s reaction to all this. Watch our full conversation. pic.twitter.com/68QUO3Vez9
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) October 24, 2023
“We’ve seen Palestinian mothers who have had to write the names of their children on their hands, because the chances of them being shelled to death – of their bodies turning into corpses – are so high,” Queen Rania told CNN’s Amanpour.
“I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world. And for them to have to go through this, it’s just unbelievable.”
The Queen stressed that these rules of engagement should apply to all sides, arguing that Israel is committing atrocities under the guise of self-defense.
“6,000 civilians killed so far, 2,400 children – how is that self-defense? We are seeing butchery at a mass scale using precision weapons,” she said, “For the past two weeks, we have seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza: entire families wiped out, residential neighborhoods flattened to the ground, the targeting of hospitals, schools, churches, mosques, medical workers, journalists, UN aid workers – how is that self defense?”
The Queen went on to state that many in the region view the Western world as complicit in this war through the support and cover that it provides Israel.
“This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire,” Queen Rania said. “Many in the Arab world are looking at the Western world as not just tolerating this, but as aiding and abetting it.”
