Jordan’s Queen criticises “double standard” of West on Israel-Hamas conflict

Amman [Jordan]: Jordan’s Queen Rania has lashed out at the “glaring double standard” of the Western mainstream media in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, for failing to condemn civilian deaths in Tel Aviv’s bombardment of Gaza as the conflict threatens to destabilise relations between the United States and Arab leaders, CNN reported.

“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,” Queen Rania said on Amanpour & Co, in a video interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The Jordanian royal said that when “October 7 happened” the world “immediately and unequivocally” supported Israel and its right to defend itself but in the last couple of weeks, “we’re seeing silence in the world.”

The 53-year-old queen who has for long been a vocal advocate for the rights of Palestinian people said that it was “for the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire.”

Queen Rania said there was a feeling that the Western world is “complicit” in the mass death of civilians.

“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? I mean, there is a glaring double standard here,” Queen Rania told CNN. “It is just shocking to the Arab world,” she said.

Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7 from the Gaza strip in Palestine, and Israel responded with strikes against Gaza. According to the latest figures shared by the United Nations, the death toll is said to have surpassed 5,000 in Gaza and reached 1,400 in Israel

Speaking in the UN Security Council on Tuesday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, saying that “humanitarian pauses” should be considered, but notably avoided the phrase “ceasefire,” the CNN reported.

The US, a permanent member of the UNSC had last week vetoed a Brazil-led Security Council proposal for a humanitarian pause in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war to allow for aid into Gaza. It criticized the draft resolution for failing to mention Israel’s right to self-defence. The United Kingdom also refused to endorse the resolution. An earlier Russian ceasefire similarly failed, CNN reported.

In her interview to CNN, Jordan’s Queen said, “As a mom, we’ve seen Palestinian mothers who have to write the names of their children on their hands – because the chances of them being shelled to death, of their bodies turning into corpses are so high.”

“I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world,” Queen Rania told the interviewer.

Meanwhile, in a press conference on the sidelines of Tuesday’s United Nations Security Council’s open debate on the situation in the Middle East, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi emphasised that the lives of Palestinians are no less valuable than the lives of Israelis.

Safadi called for the urgent delivery of assistance to Gaza Strip and added that the Arab Group rejects the killing of civilians, regardless of their nationality or religion, stressing the importance of stopping the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, according to a report in the Jordan Times.

According to the Jordanian publication, Safadi said that the continuation of the war in Gaza will not bring security, peace, or stability, emphasising that the only solution to the conflict in the Middle East is to grant the Palestinian people their rights and establish their independent state on June 4th, 1967 lines.

He said that the support for the war Israel is waging gives a “dangerous impression in our region that this war is between the West and the Arabs and Islam,” according to Jordan Times.

Safadi warned of the dangers of the current conflict in Gaza spreading to Lebanon and the West Bank.

Jordan had recently cancelled a planned summit in Amman with United States President Joe Biden and Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss Gaza after Biden’s visit to Israel last week.

Jordan’s King Abdullah was supposed to have hosted the four-way summit, which would have on its agenda the need to get humanitarian assistance to Gaza to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

According to a report in Al Jazeera, Jordan’s foreign minister Safadi said the meeting would be held at a time when the parties could agree to end the “war and the massacres against Palestinians”. He had blamed Israel with its military campaign for pushing the region to “the brink of the abyss”.

Meanwhile, the Spokesperson for the President of the UN General Assembly has confirmed that the 10th Emergency Special Session on Israel and Palestine will reconvene this Thursday.