'We are shocked and disappointed': Queen Rania slams global silence on Gaza war in CNN interview

Jordan’s Queen Rania has lambasted global silence on Israel’s ongoing massacres in Gaza and the world’s double standards in their coverage of the war, as she called Israel an occupier.

"I think that people all around the Middle East, including Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding," Queen Rania told presenter Christiane Amanpour in a Tuesday night interview on CNN.

"In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a glaring double standard in the world," said the queen, who is of Palestinian origin and was born in Kuwait.

She pointed to countries' quick and vocal solidarity with Israel and condemnation of Hamas' surprise attack on 7 October, but silence over Israel’s ruthless and indiscriminate retaliation against the Gaza Strip, which international organisations have said is "collective punishment" and could constitute a war crime.

EXPLOSIVE: Queen Rania of Jordan explodes, grants an interview to CNN's @amanpour, tells her she's outraged the world is silent when Palestinians are bombed to death in Gaza, calls Israel "apartheid state", says it's "occupier" vs "occupied". WATCHpic.twitter.com/ooFL4bsaWi

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) October 25, 2023

The Jordanian royal – whose country has shared ties with Israel since 1994 - said countries were prefacing their criticism of Israeli's brutality towards Gaza with a declaration of support for Israel.

"Are we being told that it is wrong to kill an entire family at gunpoint, but it's okay to shell them to death?" she asked, repeating that this was a "glaring" double standard.

"This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering, and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire. The silence is deafening, and to many in our region it makes the Western world complicit through their support and through the cover that they give Israel," she added.

The queen said that through the eyes of many in the region, the Western world was not just tolerating Israel’s onslaught of Gaza, but "aiding and abetting it."

"This is just horrendous and deeply disappointing to all of us."

Asked what her reaction was to Hamas's attack was, Queen Rania condemned the killing of any civilian – but questioned why the world supported Israel’s so-called right to self-defence and not the Palestinians' right to resistance.

She highlighted the unfair comparison made between Israel and the Palestinians, and said the problem predates 7 October.

"One is an occupier, and one is the occupied, one has a military – one of the mightiest in the world – and the other doesn’t have a military at all. So, there is a false symmetry here that is being drawn," she said.

She continued to blast Israel’s violation of international law and the suffering it has inflicted on the Palestinian people, saying that the world was missing context when speaking of Israel’s right to self-defence and ignoring the history of the conflict.

"Israel is in violation of no less than 30 UN security resolutions, that require it, and it alone, to act, to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 [in reference to the West Bank and East Jerusalem], to stop the settlements, the separation wall, the human rights violations."

"This is at the crux of this issue; it is not the hyperfixation on Hamas."

The queen went further by criticising CNN’s coverage, asking why the network published news about babies being beheaded by Hamas without verification.

"Even at your network, Christiane, the CNN website at the beginning of the conflict reported a headline of Israeli children found butchered at an Israeli kibbutz, and when you read through the story it hasn’t been verified."

"Now my question to you, would you publish such a damning yet unverified claim made by a Palestinian?" she asked a defensive Amanpour.

Queen Rania’s interview is expected to receive backlash from Israel. The two countries' ties have been increasingly tense in recent years due to Israel’s ongoing aggression against the Palestinians in occupied territories.

Countries like the US, UK, France, and Germany have come out in full support of Israel, saying it had "a right to defend itself," while the US vowed to provide military and financial support.

The US also vetoed a proposed resolution at the UN Security Council last week that would have seen a pause to the fighting in Gaza to allow the flow of desperately needed aid.

Hospitals have begun shutting down as they run out of fuel, and many who need treatment are succumbing to their wounds amid a severe shortage of medical supplies.

Health authorities in Gaza say over a thousand bodies remain stuck underneath the rubble. That, accompanied with no access to water and sanitation, are putting the enclave at huge risk of a health and environmental disaster.

More than 6,500 people have died from Israeli bombardment, and over 15,000 are wounded. An additional 600,000 people have also been displaced.