Queen Rania of Jordan has been eviscerated today for an extraordinarily outspoken interview in which she attacked the US and Israel for striking Gaza and questioned whether Israeli babies had really been killed by Hamas on October 7.
In the interview with veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour last night, Queen Rania – whose parents are of Palestinian descent but who grew up in Kuwait – 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.
The unusually frank interview took many by surprise and has today enraged Americans, who slammed her hypocrisy when Jordan refuses to take in Palestinian refugees.
Among them was Alyssa Farah Griffin, a CNN contributor and co-host of The View, who tweeted furiously: ‘Stunning interview with Queen Rania.
Queen Rania of Jordan sitting for her CNN interview last night in Amman. She slammed Israel’s retaliatory attacks against Hamas and said there hasn’t been sufficient sympathy for Palestinians
‘She attempts to morally equivocate between Israeli retaliatory strikes & Hamas’ terrorism. Spare me your outrage while you live in luxury & refuse to take Palestinian refugees.’
Katie Pavlich of FOX and Town Hall labeled it a ‘disgraceful and grotesque display’.
‘An absolutely disgraceful display from Queen Rania of Jordan in which she, who takes full advantage of freedoms afforded to western women while living in luxury ruling an Arab country, issues a screed devoid of facts and full of smears.
‘The *Queen* calls Israel an apartheid state, conveniently ignoring that Arab-Israelis have full rights as citizens including to vote, while denying their babies were slaughtered – saying dead babies weren’t “independently verified.” They were.
‘She laments a separation wall as a violation of “international law” while failing to mention that it was put up after countless suicide bombings of night clubs, buses and restaurants by Palestinians in Israel.
Mourners attend the funeral for members of the Sharabi family, who were killed in attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on October 25, 2023 in Kfar Harif, Israel
Injured Palestinian children in a hospital in Gaza on October 24 after an Israeli air raid
‘She justifies Oct. 7 through “context” and calls focus on Hamas a “fixation,” all while issuing frustration over the use of the word terrorist to describe “Palestinians who commit violence.”
‘Zero condemnation for Hamas killing their own people and holding them hostage in Gaza, which she bizarrely calls “occupied by Israel” even though they left in 2005.
‘She and her husband, the King, are still refusing to take refugees (who she claims to deeply care about) into their own country. Grotesque.’
Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad went further, calling her the ‘Queen of support for terrorism’.
‘Queen Rania of Jordan brazenly said in an interview with CNN that there is no proof of the beheading of children in the Hamas massacre, a blatant lie she’s spreading to the world.
‘First of all, here is a picture that I would have been thrilled not to post – of the severed and burned head of a massacre victim. It’s difficult to tell if it’s a child or an adult because the terrorists made sure to burn it,’ he said, posting a pixelated image of a burned corpse.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour argued with Rania’s denial of Hamas butchering babies. She said there was proof they had shot and burned babies’ bodies, and prompted her for sympathy towards Israelis saying: ‘How did you feel on October 7?’
The 53-year-old spoke to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, and was asked how she responded to October 7 ‘as an Arab, as a Palestinian, as a mother, as a human being’
The royal couple are pictured in June 2018 during a visit to the White House. King Abdullah II has said no Palestinian refugees will be accepted by Jordan
‘It’s utterly ridiculous that severed heads are somehow seen as proof that Israel is lying, completely disregarding the fact that there was an indisputable brutal massacre here. Everything is documented and photographed.
‘As if it’s okay to shoot and stab and slaughter babies… You have a new title – Queen of Jordan and Queen of support for terrorism!
Amanpour, during an appearance on CNN This Morning today to discuss the interview, said Queen Rania expressed a belief that ‘most of the world agrees with’.
‘The primary takeaway is that she is expressing exactly what the rest of the world thinks.
‘The world in which the Muslims and many, many other parts of the world believe that there is a, as she said, a glaring double standard,’ Amanpour said.
In her interview, Queen Rania called for equal condemnation of Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza as there was on the Hamas October 7 attack.
‘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.
‘And it’s just shocking to the Arab world,’ she told veteran reporter Christiane Amanpour, before questioning whether babies had been ‘butchered’ by Hamas.
‘I’m not arguing accuracy, Christiane, I’m arguing equivalence and double standards here,’ she fumed.
Amanpour fired back that it had been verified both by CNN’s reporters and other foreign media on the ground that Hamas was butchering babies, but stopped short of demanding a condemnation from the queen of the terror group’s practices.
Amanpour did directly appeal for sympathy for Israelis and condemnation of Hamas, asking if Queen Rania ‘accepted’ that they had brought suffering on Palestinians.
The full unedited footage will not be shared with the public, Israel says, unless all of the families of those killed within view it and give permission
Hundreds of journalists and photographers from media companies all over the world yesterday attended the screening of a film of assorted footage showing the extent of the horrors committed by Hamas
Queen Rania made a brief concession, but then returned to criticizing Israel and its allies.
‘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?’
Earlier this week, the Israeli government showed 200 journalists from foreign outlets Hamas bodycam footage of the October 7 attack.
The reporters said they were left in no doubt of the brutality of the attack.
Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy also released a video describing the horrifying contents of the footage.