Jordan’s Queen Rania says ‘anti-Semitism has been weaponised to shut down criticism of Israel’ and says ‘being pro-Palestine does not mean being pro-Hamas’
Queen Rania of Jordan has again slammed the IDF’s incessant bombing of Gaza, declaring that supporters of Israel are trying to undermine criticism of Tel-Aviv’s actions by accusing critics of being anti-Semitic.
‘What we’ve seen in recent years is the charge of anti-Semitism being weaponised in order to silence any criticism of Israel,’ the Jordanian Queen Consort, whose parents were born in Palestine, told CNN.
‘Supporters of Israel who cannot defend Israel’s actions or conduct – they revert to shutting the conversation down by equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
‘Let me be very very clear – being pro-Palestinian is not being anti-Semitic. Being pro Palestinian does not mean you’re pro-Hamas or pro-terrorism.
‘I think Israel deserves more from its allies than just unequivocal support, I think it deserves some uncomfortable truths because if you are a real friend you support your friend when they’re right but you also tell them when they’ve crossed a line,’ she concluded.
Rania’s comments come as Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed more than 10,000 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli airstrikes – an average of almost 350 people a day since October 7.
More than 4,000 of the 10,022 recorded casualties were aged under 18, the ministry said, adding that more than 200 people were killed overnight in ruthless bombardments conducted by IDF warplanes as ground troops surround Gaza City ahead of an imminent assault.
Queen Rania of Jordan has again slammed the IDF’s incessant bombing of Gaza, declaring that supporters of Israel accusing those decrying the Jewish state’s actions of being anti-Semitic to undermine their criticism
Queen Rania’s latest statement follows previous comments in which she said there was a ‘glaring double standard’ around the world when it came to sympathy for the war’s victims
Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and grew up in the West Bank, raged against ‘apartheid regime’ Israel in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last month (pictured)
Queen Rania’s latest statement follows previous comments in which she said there was a ‘glaring double standard’ around the world when it came to sympathy for the war’s victims.
She made a brief concession that she ‘of course’ condemned Hamas’ killing of Israeli civilians, but spoke mostly of the need for increased support of Palestinians and a halt to Israel’s ground strikes.
Hamas claims 10,000 have now been killed in Israeli airstrikes as IDF pounds 450 targets and ‘splits Gaza in two’ after surrounding city
‘Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint – but it’s okay to shell them to death? I mean, there is a glaring double standard here,’ she said.
Rania, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and grew up in the West Bank, raged against ‘apartheid regime’ Israel in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last month.
‘These are the rules of war and they need to apply to everybody. Yes, there is the shock and there was the condemnation [towards Hamas]. But why isn’t there equal condemnation to what is happening now?
‘Even if Israel defeats every last Hamas member, then what? Haven’t they left a trail of terrible memories that will create a new generation of resistance that is fiercer and more violent?’
Amanpour asked the 53-year-old Queen how she had felt since the Hamas attack of October 7 ‘as an Arab, as a Palestinian, as a mother, as a human being’.
Rania replied: ‘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 her country, home to the world’s largest Palestinian population, was ‘united in grief, regardless of our origin’.
‘I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world,’ she added in the interview aired October 25.
‘Six thousand civilians killed so far, 2,400 children – how is that self-defence? We are seeing butchery at a mass scale using precision weapons.
‘I just want to emphasize that this conflict did not begin on October 7, although it has been portrayed as that,’ Rania continued.
‘You know, 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, and the other side of the barbed wire, war has never left.’
King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan on their arrival at the South Portico of the White House on June 25, 2018 in Washington, DC
A Palestinian man reacts as others check the rubble of a building in Khan Yunis on November 6
This handout picture released by the Israeli army on November 5, 2023, shows Israeli tanks and soldiers stationed at a location in the northern Gaza Strip as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue
Footage shows what the IDF says are entrances to Hamas tunnels beneath one hospital
‘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.
‘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,’ she concluded.
Critics say Israel’s strikes on Gaza are often disproportionate, considering the large number of civilians killed – but IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus was today resolute in his justification for the brutal assault on the Strip.
‘We will take the fight to Hamas wherever they are – underground, above ground. We will be able to dismantle Hamas, stronghold after stronghold, battalion after battalion, until we achieve the ultimate goal, which is to rid the Gaza Strip – the entire Gaza Strip – of Hamas,’ he said.
Troops are now expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours, according to Israeli press – an operation that would mark a new chapter of the conflict which began almost one month ago when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel and slaughtered 1,400 people.
Israel has also accused Hamas of war crimes, revealing new evidence that it says proves the terror group uses hospitals in the Gaza Strip as military bases while preventing civilians from escaping.
At the Sheikh Hamad hospital, known as the ‘Qatari’ hospital, Rear Admiral Hagari showed what he said was photo evidence of tunnel entrances alongside the building discovered by Israeli troops.
Hagari said Hamas operates from within the hospital because they know that the IDF cannot launch an airstrike on them without causing collateral damage.
‘Hamas is weak without human shields,’ he said.
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