Queen Rania of Jordan says U.S. is seen as “enabler” of Israel

Palestinians and others in the Middle East see the U.S. as an “enabler” of Israel in its war with Hamas, Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan said Sunday on “Face the Nation.” 

“People view the U.S. as being a party to this war,” Rania said in an interview with “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan. “Because, you know, Israeli officials say that without U.S. support, they couldn’t launch this war.”

• Transcript: Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan on “Face the Nation,” May 5, 2024

Jordan, a U.S. ally, has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1994. The queen, who is of Palestinian descent, has criticized the reaction to the war by the U.S. and other countries, saying there’s been a “selective application of humanitarian law” that’s causing a “loss of credibility” in the U.S. 

“The U.S. may be Israel’s most-closest ally, but a good friend holds a friend accountable,” she said. 

Rania said the world is getting “mixed messages” from the U.S., which she says has both made expressions of concern over civilian deaths in Gaza and provided offensive weapons to Israel “that are used against Palestinians.” She urged the international community to use leverage to compel Israel to let aid into Gaza and bring an end to the war, saying the U.S. can do so by saying it won’t continue to provide offensive weapons to Israel. 

The queen described the war’s toll on the Arab world, which she said has watched as Gaza has become “unrecognizable” over the last seven months. As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has stretched on for nearly seven months since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, the Hamas-run Health Ministry has said that at least 34,000 have died as the humanitarian crisis has escalated, although the Health Ministry does not designate between civilians and combatant casualties. 

“It’s been quite devastating. And the impact has been, obviously people are so traumatized by what they’re seeing every day,” she said. “We were traumatized by Oct. 7, but then this war, we feel is not, you know, Israel is saying that this was a defensive war. Obviously, it was instigated by Oct. 7, but the way it’s being fought is not in a defensive way.”

Queen Rania made clear that Hamas does not represent the majority of people in Gaza, and that Palestinians have been dehumanized in decades by Israel to “numb people to Palestinian suffering.”

“When you reduce people to a violent people who are different to us — so they’re not moral like us, so therefore it’s okay to inflict pain and suffering on them because they don’t feel it the same way we do — it allows people to do bad things,” she said. “That’s-that’s the mental loophole of dehumanization, it allows you to justify the unjustifiable, to do bad things and still see yourself as a good person.”

At the same time, the queen condemned antisemitism, calling it “the worst kind of bigotry” and “pure hatred.” And she drew a line between antisemitism and speaking out against the war in Gaza and Israeli policy.

Her interview comes as President Biden is set to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan this week. The administration is also facing a deadline to provide Congress with a determination of whether Israel is using American weapons in accordance with international law in the coming days.