Rania, the Queen Consort of Jordan, talked to CNN about the situation in Gaza on Tuesday evening. Right now, Al-Jazeera reports, the death toll in Gaza, where airstrikes have bombed homes, hospitals and bakeries in the South, has reached almost 6000.
Queen Rania, who is also of Palestinian descent, criticised the silence of the West as the violence in Gaza goes on: “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.”
Addressing the bias in the media, she pointed out that Palestinian deaths are not acknwoledged as war crimes committed by Israel:
“For the last couple of weeks, we have recieved silence around the world. Countries have stopped expressing concern over the casualties, always with a preference of declaration of support for Israel. Are we being told it is wrong to kill a family at gunpoint, but its oaky to shell them to death? There is a glaring double standard here, and it is just shocking to the Arab world.”
“This is the first time in modern history there is such human suffering and the world is not calling for a ceasefire. The silence is deafening, and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit through their support and coverage they give to Israel.” Further Queen Rania added how her people shocked to see this act as the West aiding and abetting the violence.
Speaking on the violence of October 7, Queen Rania responded Jordan reiterated its position by being against the killing of any innocent civilian, whether Palestinian or Israeli. “But why isn’t there equal condemnation to what is happening now?”
Queen Rania went on to slam the one-sided narrative of the Western media by emphasising how the war did not begin with the Hamas attacking out of the blue on October 7th, but because of the 75-year-long history of oppression of the Palestinians by Israel. She stressed on Israel’s history of documented crimes over Palestinians is missing from the narrative.
“This conflict did not begin on October 7th, although it is being portrayed as that. Most networks are covering the story under the title of ‘Israel at war’. But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation war, on the other side of the barbed wire, war has never left. This is a 75 year old story. A story of overwhelming death and displacement for the Palestinian people. It’s the story of an oppressed people under an apartheid regime that occupies land, demolishes houses, confiscates lands, night raids.”
“Is the word terrorist reserved solely for Muslims and Arabs,” Queen Rania questioned when speaking about the way Israeli’s are protected under the claim of ‘self defense’ when Palestinians are murdered, but Palestinians are blamed as terrorists while trying to protect their homeland. “There are no two equal people in the conflict. One is an occupier and one is the occupied. One has a military force that is one of the mightiest in the world and the other doesn’t have a military at all.”
