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Queen Rania of Jordan denounces West for ‘glaring double standards’ in response to Israel-Hamas war

October 25, 2023 | | Print Article

Jordan’s Queen Rania had strong criticism for the “complicit” West in its response to the attack on Israel and called out President Joe Biden for his reaction to reports of Hamas terrorist atrocities.

The fiery interview with journalist Christiane Amanpour even saw the monarch, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, calling out CNN for its reporting on the conflict.

“I cannot begin to describe to you the depth of the grief, the pain and the shock that we are feeling here in Jordan,” she said.

“As a mom, we’ve seen Palestinian mothers who have 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,” Rania said. “I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world.”

“Six thousand civilians killed so far, 2,400 children – how is that self-defense?” she asked, calling the killing of Palestinians “butchery.”

The queen decried what she described as a “deafening silence” in the wake of Israel’s retaliation on Gaza.

“Why isn’t there a call for an immediate ceasefire? We are seeing staggering human suffering happening today, so why is the narrative always skewed towards the Israeli side?” she asked.

“The Western media and policymakers are quick to adopt the Israeli narratives. When Israel attacks, Palestinians ‘die,’ but when Israelis die, they are ‘killed,’ ‘murdered in cold blood,'” she continued.

She railed against the West for its “silence” in the wake of mass casualties.

“When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself, and condemned the attacks that happened,” she told Amanpour.

“But what we’re seeing the last couple of weeks, we’re seeing silence,” she claimed. “Countries have stopped at just expressing concern, or acknowledging the casualties. But always with a preface of declaration of support for Israel.”

She turned her anger toward Biden and his response to reports of babies in Israel being beheaded by the Hamas terrorists.

“When the President of the United States is told that he has evidence he has seen evidence of children beheaded, only to retract it because the IDF said that there’s no proof of that. That is confirmation bias,” the mother of four said before launching a salvo at CNN directly.

“Even at your network Christiane, the CNN website, at the beginning of the conflict reported a headline about Israeli children found butchered in an Israeli kibbutz. And when you read through the story, that’s not been independently verified,” Rania said.

“Now, my question to you is would you publish such a damning yet unverified claim made by a Palestinian—” she added before being interrupted by Amanpour.

“Queen Rania, I just need to stop you right there because there have been pictures shown by the Israelis and our journalists have been down there. I’m not talking about beheadings, I’m talking about babies’ bodies riddled with bullets,” the journalist pushed back.

But the queen went on to lambast the media’s portrayal of the conflict through the eyes of Israel, claiming that “this is a 75-year-old story – a story of overwhelming death and displacement to the Palestinian people.”

“It is a story of an occupation under an apartheid regime that occupies land, that demolishes houses, confiscates land, military incursions, night raids,” she continued. “You know, the context of a nuclear-armed regional superpower that occupies, oppresses and commits daily documented crimes against Palestinians is missing from the narrative.”

Rania contended that she was “speaking up for humanity” when Amanpour warned that her words would likely stir up anger.

“There’s a hyper fixation on Hamas now because of all that happened the last couple of weeks,” Rania said.

“But this is a problem that far precedes Hamas and will continue after Hamas,” she added. “This is a fight for freedom and for justice, and that is what needs to be heard.”

Though the queen’s passionate words were praised by pro-Palestine social media users, many others on X were less than impressed.

Frieda Powers
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