Israel’s treatment of Gazans during the Israel-Hamas War was comparable to Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jewish people, Queen Rania of Jordan told thousands of youth in Munich on Tuesday.
Rania spoke about hate speech and the Israel-Hamas War in her address at the opening ceremony of the One Young World Summit, which was attended by people from over 190 nations.
The queen accused Israeli officials of spreading hate speech in the “aftermath of the October 7 attacks,” saying that they operated “from a time-tested playbook” and tried to “convince the public [they were] dealing with beasts” to justify violence.
She reportedly referenced then-defense minister Yoav Gallant calling the Hamas terrorists involved in the October 7 attacks “animals,” which was misquoted and used to accuse Israel of dehumanizing Palestinians.
Rania compared Gallant’s use of the word “animals” to Nazi Germany’s description of Jewish people as “vermin.”
'Every atrocity is unique'
Attempting to justify the comparison, she acknowledged that “every atrocity is unique,” saying that her statements are “not about weighing grief or comparing pain” but are “about affirming that every human life holds equal worth” and honoring the memory of the Holocaust rather than challenging it.
“We’ve witnessed, in real time, the raw reality of what hate looks like when it transforms from a feeling, to words, to action,” she told the crowd, adding that “to dismiss it as ‘just talk’ is to ignore how every genocide has begun: with words.”
She praised the global pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel movement as “the largest, most organic grassroots movement in recent memory,” decrying individuals who choose not to speak out on the polarizing conflict as people who “can’t be bothered.”
Rania also accused Israel of continuing an “illegal occupation of Palestine.”