Megyn Kelly has condemned Queen Rania of Jordan for her fiery interview in which she spoke out against Palestinian deaths and accused the queen of denying the deaths of Israeli babies.
The queen, who is of Palestinian descent, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that she was angry about the “flanking double standards” in reporting on Israeli and Palestinian deaths.
She accused the world media of immediately accepting Israel’s official position but being skeptical of the Palestinian perspective.
“The CNN website reported a headline early in the conflict about Israeli children being slaughtered on an Israeli kibbutz, and if you read through the story, that has not been independently verified,” Rania says.
It was unclear what Rania was referring to, and there is no doubt that Hamas terrorists killed babies and riddled their bodies with bullets.
Kelly reacted in disgust.
Megyn Kelly (left) criticized Queen Rania of Jordan on Wednesday for her CNN interview
‘Unbelievable. She’s actually trying to spin the lie – the queen – that no children have been murdered,” Kelly said.
‘Real? To summarize: according to the Queen of Jordan, Israel is the bad guy.
“Apparently she missed Hamas’s interrogations and confessions of their brutality. Maybe she also missed the segment of a terrorist happily calling Mom and Dad to brag about all the innocent Jewish blood on his hands.”
Hamas spokespeople have insisted that the group avoids civilian casualties – an obvious lie betrayed by the terrorists’ own body camera footage, which shows them gleefully gunning down men, women and children.
The October 7 attack killed 1,400 Israelis. The subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed 6,000 Gazans, according to Hamas, which controls the enclave.
Kelly said Rania’s famous beauty and elegance blinded the West to her attitude, describing her as “absolutely beautiful on the outside.”
Kelly said Rania’s criticism of the West was inexcusable and accused her of having no sympathy for the Israeli victims.
“She opened up in this interview and revealed what she really thinks about Israel, Gaza and those of us outside the Middle East,” Kelly said.
“She threw her friends in the West there for good measure.
“Even the most ardent supporters of the Palestinians have learned that they have to spend three lines expressing their terrible feelings about what happened to the Israelis. That would be a good place to start. The innocent lives lost in Israel, and then maybe the focus on the innocent lives lost in Gaza. That’s not exactly what happened.’
Rania, born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents and raised in the West Bank, railed against “apartheid” Israel, claiming the conflict began “before” Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis on October 7.
She said she “of course” condemned the murder of innocent Israelis by Hamas, but questioned why Israel’s self-defense did not come under the same level of global scrutiny and reserved all her sympathy for the Palestinians.
Pressed on why Jordan will not accept Palestinian war refugees, she said: “They have the right to stay on their land.”
Queen Rania then backtracked on her argument that Israel’s continued attacks against Hamas were unjustified.
“Are we being told that it’s wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s okay to shoot them dead?” I mean, there’s a blatant double standard here.
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Queen Rania condemned the ‘glaring double standard’ in the global response to the deaths of Israelis and Palestinians
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’
“And it’s just shocking for the Arab world,” she told veteran reporter Christiane Amanpour, before questioning whether babies had been “slaughtered” by Hamas.
“I’m not arguing for accuracy, Christiane, I’m advocating equality and double standards here,” she said angrily.
Amanpour responded that it had been verified by CNN reporters as well as other foreign media on the basis that Hamas was slaughtering babies, but he stopped short of demanding a condemnation from the queen of the terror group’s practices.
Amanpour made a direct appeal for sympathy for the Israelis and condemnation of Hamas, asking whether Queen Rania “accepted” that they had caused suffering to the Palestinians.
Queen Rania made a brief concession, but then returned to criticizing Israel and its allies.
“These are the rules of war and they should apply to everyone. Yes, there is the shock and there was the condemnation (toward Hamas). But why is there no equal condemnation for what is happening now?’
“Even if Israel defeats every last Hamas member, what then? Have they not left behind a trail of terrible memories that will spark a new generation of resistance, more fierce and violent?’
Amanpour began by asking the 53-year-old how she had felt since the October 7 Hamas attack “as an Arab, as a Palestinian, as a mother, as a human being.”
Rania replied: “I cannot describe the depth of sadness, pain and shock we feel here in Jordan.
She said her country, home to the world’s largest Palestinian population, was “united in grief, regardless of our origins.”
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour took issue with Rania’s denial that Hamas was slaughtering babies. She said there was evidence they had shot and burned the bodies of babies, and appealed for sympathy for the Israelis, saying: “How did you feel on October 7?”
Palestinians were injured in Israel after airstrikes on the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, Gaza
The royal couple are photographed during a visit to the White House in June 2018
“I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children as much as any other mother in the world,” she added.
“Six thousand civilians killed so far, 2,400 children – how is that self-defense? We are seeing large-scale massacres using precision weapons.
“I just want to emphasize that this conflict did not start on October 7, even if it is portrayed that way,” Rania continued.
“You know, most networks run the story under the title Israel at War.
“But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation wall and on the other side of the barbed wire, the war never went away.
“This is a 75-year-old story – a story of overwhelming death and displacement for the Palestinian people.
‘It’s a story about an occupation under an apartheid regime that occupies land, demolishes houses, confiscates land, military raids, night raids.
“You know, the context of a nuclear-armed regional superpower occupying, oppressing, and committing daily documented crimes against the Palestinians is missing from the story.”
Rescuers pull a child from the rubble of a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
Rescue workers pull a child from the rubble of a building after Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday
Amanpour told her that her words would likely be met with great anger by Israel.
“Let me just emphasize that apartheid is a designation given not by Arabs, but by Israeli and international human rights organizations,” she replied.
The mother of four said Palestinians “suffer daily humiliations and human rights violations,” saying there was no freedom of movement and condemning the 500 checkpoints in the West Bank; the ‘aggressive expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory’; and the ‘humiliation’ of her people.
She said Israel has violated UN resolutions and ignored international law.
“There is now a hyper fixation on Hamas because of everything that has happened in recent weeks,” she said.
“But this is a problem that far precedes Hamas and will continue after Hamas.
“This is a fight for freedom and for justice, and that is what needs to be heard.”