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".



Dozens Die of Mysterious Illness in Besieged Sudan Town

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, displaced from Jezira state due to RSF violence, sit under a tree in New Halfa, Kassala state, Sudan, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, displaced from Jezira state due to RSF violence, sit under a tree in New Halfa, Kassala state, Sudan, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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Dozens Die of Mysterious Illness in Besieged Sudan Town

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, displaced from Jezira state due to RSF violence, sit under a tree in New Halfa, Kassala state, Sudan, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, displaced from Jezira state due to RSF violence, sit under a tree in New Halfa, Kassala state, Sudan, November 3, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

At least 73 people have died of mysterious causes in the Sudanese town of al-Hilaliya, besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese Doctors Union said late on Wednesday.
It is one of dozens of villages that have come under attack in eastern El Jezira state since the defection of a top RSF commander to the army, which prompted revenge attacks that have displaced more than 135,000 people.
The war between the two forces has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 11 million and plunging more into hunger while drawing in foreign powers and prompting fears of state collapse, Reuters said.
While high death tolls in other parts of Jezira came as a result of RSF shelling and gunfire, in Hilaliya people have fallen ill with diarrhea, overwhelming a local hospital according to the union and three people from the area.
A network blackout enforced by the RSF has made it difficult to determine the exact cause.
One man who spoke to Reuters said three of his family members had died of the same illness, but he only found out days later when others escaped to an area with internet access.
Those who wish to leave must pay high sums at RSF checkpoints, said another man.
According to pro-democracy activists, the siege began on Oct. 29 when the RSF raided the town, killing five and surrounding residents inside three mosques.
Hilaliya is home to the family of defected commander Abuagla Keikal, which locals say may explain the siege of a previously stable trade hub that had housed 50,000 people, including many displaced from other areas.
The town's markets and warehouses were looted, witnesses said.
Satellite imagery from a Yale Humanitarian Lab report showed rapid increase in cemeteries in several Jezira towns since the latest revenge attacks began in late October. It also showed evidence of the burning of agricultural fields in the village of Azrag.