Jordan's Queen Rania: Israel had one October 7, the Palestinians have had 156

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, Jordanian Queen Rania Al Abdullah discussed the war in Gaza from a humanitarian perspective, claiming that airdrops and the current volume of aid are not enough. The Queen added that, “aid under bombardment does not stop the destruction, the death, and the heartbreak. We cannot save people from hunger only then to bomb them to death.”

She continued, “There are no victories to be had as long as this war continues.”

Christiane Amanpour asked the Jordanian Queen what it means to be marking this Ramadan with the continuation of the war in Gaza. The Queen said that these days, they’re “welcoming the holiday with very heavy hearts.” 

The ADL responded to the interview on X, formerly Twitter, arguing, "Jordanian Queen Raina continues propagating false claims about Israel while diminishing the severity of Hamas’s attack on Israel. In no way is Israel’s war against Hamas - a vile terror org that uses human shields - equivalent to the unprecedented Oct 7 brutal massacre. Especially during the month of Ramadan, we hope Jordan will play a constructive role in de-escalating tensions."

Throughout the interview, Queen Rania placed the blame on Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, arguing that Israel is responsible for cutting the people of Gaza off from basic necessities such as food, fuel, and water. 

She also said that as Israel has left the people of Gaza entirely reliant on outside aid efforts, they continue to bomb and attack the people of Gaza as they are starving. She says that the starvation of the people of Gaza is an Israeli-made disaster, arguing that it is “deprivation by design.”

The IDF has claimed that Hamas terrorists beat civilians and steal the humanitarian aid that Gaza receives from international organizations.

She commended France’s President Emmanuel Macron, as well as leadership in Spain, Belgium, Ireland, and South Africa, for calling for a ceasefire and supporting humanitarian aid efforts. 

Queen Rania touted the aid Jordan is providing to Gaza. She sat for the interview in a warehouse with boxes of humanitarian aid behind her plastered with Jordanian flags. She said that although they are providing as much aid as possible, it is still insufficient for the people of Gaza, as reports from the UN indicate that the entire population of Gaza is going hungry.

Amanpour pressed the Queen on October 7

When the Jordanian Queen was pressed on October 7 by Amanpour, she said, “As devastating and as traumatic as October 7 was, it doesn't give Israel license to commit atrocity after atrocity. Israel experienced one October 7, since then, the Palestinians have experienced 156 October 7's.”

Several times throughout the interview, she discussed "history" behind October 7, and argued that the “occupation” is to blame for the conflict. 

She said, “I think a lot of people need to know more about this conflict to really understand the intricacies of it, to understand that this is one of the greatest historical Injustices, to understand what the root cause of this issue is, to understand that this conflict did not begin on October 7, that that it was a result of years of occupation, of settlement expansion, of human rights abuses, of disregard for international law, and this is what led us to this point.” 

Within this discussion of history, there was no mention of the history of terror attacks Israel has experienced, nor the history of the conflict before 1967 when Israel claimed the West Bank and Gaza in the Six-Day War and Jews began reestablishing a presence in those areas.  

Queen Rania believes that ending the occupation is the solution to the conflict. She argues that “Palestinians do not hate Israelis because of who they are, they hate them because of what they're doing to them.”

Confronting the concept that Israel is unfairly singled out on the world stage, she argues that this is difficult to believe because critics of Israel only want Israel to do the “bare minimum, which is just abide by international law.” 

Queen Rania claims that the “dehumanization” of Palestinians is “systematic” in Israel and that it is unjustifiably ingrained in Israeli society to believe “if we don't kill them, they're going to kill us” regarding the Palestinians. She says that she blames “hardline leaders for keeping their people in this perpetual state of fear of an existential threat that doesn't exist and making them feel like just killing Palestinians and killing Hamas is going to be the solution to the problem.”

Queen Rania concluded the interview by saying, “We in this part of the world need to find a way to share these holy lands in peace.”