Jordan’s Queen Rania al-Abdullah told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview which aired on Sunday that she feels empathy for Israeli mothers who have children in Hamas captivity, but urged Israel not to channel the trauma of Hamas’ October 7 massacre to fuel a cycle of “retribution and revenge.”
Asked by interviewer Margaret Brennan whether she understands that Israelis are traumatized after October 7, Queen Rania replied, “Absolutely traumatized, I understand that. And I understand that, because of my own background, that I would identify with the Palestinian side more, and because of that, I challenge myself every single day to put myself in the shoes of an Israeli mother, who has a child that's been taken as hostage, or any young Israeli who has been taught and who's heard of the horrible persecution that the Jewish people had to endure in Europe. And- and I tried to empathize and see where they're coming from.”
She added, “And absolutely, you know, we need the hostages to go home as soon as possible. And we need the war to end as soon as possible so that Palestinians can go back to their homes, if they have homes left. So, I understand that what happened on October 7 was traumatic and devastating for Israeli society. But the reaction to it has not helped the situation. You cannot just rely on this visceral reaction of retribution and revenge. Because then you're just going into the cycle of violence and just digging deeper in it, and it's just going to keep getting worse.”
Queen Rania argued that “Israel could have retaliated through surgical strikes against Hamas. But that's not what we're seeing today. You know, we are seeing a war that is not fought in a defensive way.”
She also said that it is wrong to see Hamas as representing the Palestinian Arab people.
“Absolutely wrong. And also, just to point out that most of the people alive in Gaza today were not alive when Hamas was elected. They were not born, or they were children at the time. So absolutely, Hamas does not represent the majority of Palestinians. And if Palestinians hate Israelis, it is not because of their religion, or their identity, it's because of the fact that they've only interacted with them as enforcers of a military state.”
“It's not something that's inherently in them against Jewish people. In fact, I always try to remind people that you know, we have coexisted, Christians, Muslims and Jewish people, for the longest time. That's where the three monotheistic religions were born. And prior to the birth of Zionism, the Muslim majority in Palestine, lived in complete friendship and tolerance with the- with the Jewish minority, there was never an issue of antisemitism there,” she claimed.
The Jordanian Queen has been critical of Israel’s response to the Hamas massacre, claiming in an interview with CNN several weeks after October 7 that there is "no evidence" that Hamas terrorists beheaded Israeli infants, and that the reports of beheadings were never verified.
In another interview two months ago, Queen Rania again criticized Israel and said, “As devastating and as traumatic as October 7th was, it doesn't give Israel license to commit atrocity after atrocity. Israel experienced one October 7th - since then the Palestinians have experienced 156 October 7ths.”
“This has been a slow-motion mass murder of children five months in the making. It is absolutely shameful, outrageous, and entirely predictable what's happening in Gaza today because it was deliberate,” she claimed.