Jordan’s Queen Rania Rues West’s ‘Glaring Double Standard’ on Gaza

A handout picture released by the Press Service of Jordan's Queen Rania on October 24, 2023, shows her speaking in an exclusive CNN interview from Amman about the ongoing Gaza bombing. (Photo by Queen Rania’s Office / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Press Service of Jordan's Queen Rania on October 24, 2023, shows her speaking in an exclusive CNN interview from Amman about the ongoing Gaza bombing. (Photo by Queen Rania’s Office / AFP)
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Jordan’s Queen Rania Rues West’s ‘Glaring Double Standard’ on Gaza

A handout picture released by the Press Service of Jordan's Queen Rania on October 24, 2023, shows her speaking in an exclusive CNN interview from Amman about the ongoing Gaza bombing. (Photo by Queen Rania’s Office / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Press Service of Jordan's Queen Rania on October 24, 2023, shows her speaking in an exclusive CNN interview from Amman about the ongoing Gaza bombing. (Photo by Queen Rania’s Office / AFP)

Jordan's Queen Rania accused Western leaders of a "glaring double standard" for not condemning Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in its bombardment of Gaza, in an interview aired Wednesday.

The royal, born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait, blasted Western nations for opposing a blanket ceasefire and said their silence gave the impression they were "complicit" in Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.  

"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," she told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

"When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself and condemned the attack," she said of the day when Hamas militants began a rampage that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped more than 220 others, Israeli officials say.

"But what we're seeing in the last couple of weeks, we're seeing silence in the world."  

Israel has responded with relentless air strikes on the tiny Palestinian territory which Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says have killed 6,546 people, mostly civilians and many of them children.  

It has also imposed a total siege on Gaza's 2.4 million residents who are facing a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis, the United Nations says.  

'The silence is deafening'  

"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?" Queen Rania asked.  

Many Western governments have repeatedly and publicly voiced their support for Israel while also urging it to respect international law.  

Queen Rania said of the West's refusal to back a ceasefire that "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".  

Israel and its allies have so far rebuffed calls for a blanket ceasefire, which the White House has said would only benefit Hamas.  

The United States last week vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a "humanitarian pause" in the raging Israel-Hamas conflict, saying the text did not recognize Israel's right to defend itself.  

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday spoke of "epic suffering" in Gaza, and said there had been "clear violations of international law".  

Guterres sparked a furious reaction from Israeli diplomats when he said that the Hamas attack "did not happen in a vacuum".  

That sentiment was shared by Queen Rania, who told CNN that it was wrong to say the conflict started on October 7.  

"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," she said.  

When pressed on that claim, Rania cited international human rights organizations, which have previously accused Israel of apartheid.  

Israel responded to a 2022 Amnesty International report which said it was perpetrating apartheid by calling Amnesty a "radical organization", and saying the country was "a democracy committed to international law".



Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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Hezbollah Fires about 250 Rockets, Other Projectiles into Israel in Heaviest Barrage in Weeks

Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
Members of the Israeli forces inspect a site following a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an area in Rinatya, outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in one of the group's heaviest barrages in months, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with ceasefire efforts to halt the all-out war.

Some of the rockets reached the Tel Aviv area in the heart of Israel.

Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on an army center killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded 18 others in the southwest between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon's military said.  

The Israeli military expressed regret, saying that the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah and that the military's operations are directed solely against the fighters.

Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon's military has largely kept to the sidelines.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the latest strike as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

Hezbollah fires rockets after strikes on Beirut  

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel launched retaliatory airstrikes at Hezbollah, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several top commanders.

The Israeli military said about 250 projectiles were fired Sunday, with some intercepted.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated seven people, including a 60-year old man in severe condition from rocket fire on northern Israel, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast in the central city of Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, and a 70-year-old woman who suffered smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire there.  

In Haifa, a rocket hit a residential building that police said was in danger of collapsing.

The Palestine Red Crescent reported 13 injuries it said were caused by an interceptor missile that struck several homes in Tulkarem in the West Bank. It was unclear whether the injuries and damage elsewhere were caused by rockets or interceptors.

Sirens wailed again in central and northern Israel hours later.

Israeli airstrikes without warning on Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding 67, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Smoke billowed above Beirut again Sunday with new strikes. Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah command centers in the southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, where the group has a strong presence.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,700 people in Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

EU envoy calls for pressure to reach a truce  

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region last week.

The European Union’s top diplomat called Sunday for more pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was "pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”

Josep Borrell spoke after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.

Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208 million) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the monthlong 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol with the presence of UN peacekeepers.