Queen Rania.

Gulf Today Report

Queen Rania of Jordan has condemned the West’s double standards for failing to condemn the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians reeling under Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to CNN in an exclusive interview, Rania said, “The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a glaring double standard in the world.

“When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself and condemned the attack that happened… but what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks, we’re seeing silence in the world.

“Why is it that whenever Israel commits these atrocities it comes under the banner of self-defence, but when there is violence by Palestinians, it is immediately called terrorism? Is the word ‘terrorist’ just reserved exclusively for Muslims and Arabs?

“The Western media and policymakers are quick to adopt the Israeli narrative. When Israel attacks, Palestinians die, but when Israelis die, they are murdered in cold blood.

“I have never seen a Western official say the sentence: ‘Palestinians have the right to defend themselves.’

“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 added. “So the silence is deafening – and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit.”

“Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s OK to shell them to death? I mean, there is a glaring double standard here,” she said. “It is just shocking to the Arab world.”

“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,” Queen 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. And for them to have to go through this, it's just unbelievable,” she said.

The queen also stressed the conflict in the Middle East did not begin on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, highlighting the history of Israel’s occupation and the displacement of Palestinians.

“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, on the other side of the barbed wire, war has never left,” she said.

“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 apartheid regime, that occupies lands, that demolishes houses, confiscates lands, military incursions, night raids.”

Queen Rania said the people of Gaza face “two choices.”

“Essentially they’re given a choice between expulsion or extermination, between ethnic cleansing and genocide. And no people should be given, [should] have to face, that kind of choice. The people of Palestine should not, [the people] of Gaza should not, be forced to be moved again,” she said.

A two-state solution to establish a “free, sovereign and independent” Palestine is the only path to peace in the region, Queen Rania told CNN.

“There can never be a resolution except around a negotiating table … there is only one path to this, and that is a free, sovereign, and independent Palestinian state, living side by side, in peace and security, with the state of Israel.”