Jordanian queen expresses empathy for Israeli mothers whose children are held hostage

Jordan’s Queen Rania al-Abdullah, in a recent interview, discussed the empathy she feels for Israel mothers who have children in Hamas captivity.

Speaking to CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Queen Rania spoke about the need for Israelis to remain sympathetic to ordinary Palestinian civilians. She also discussed the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses in the United States and elsewhere, condemning attempts to paint the protesting students as “pro-Hamas” and asserting that the majority of the demonstrations were peaceful.

Rania, who has been highly critical of Israel throughout the war in Gaza, said that due to her heritage, she identifies more with the Palestinian side of the conflict, but seeks to remain sympathetic to the Israeli side as well.

“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 a hostage… and I try to empathize and see where they’re coming from,” she said.

“We need the hostages to go home as soon as possible,” she added. “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.”

The war in Gaza began following the October 7 attack, during which Hamas- killed some 1,200 people. An additional 252 people were seized as hostages and taken to Gaza, of whom 129 are believed to remain in captivity, not all of them alive.

In response, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas and launched an aerial campaign and ground offensive in Gaza to topple Hamas rule and release the hostages.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says that more than 34,500 people have been killed in the Palestinian enclave since the start of the war.