Queen Rania: Come together, stand up, and speak out about Gaza.

[Hatalles]

Run time: 01:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7y0Be6QMC4   Posted on YouTube: January 03, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 03, 2009 By DU Member: Hatalles Views on DU: 3232

 

[babylonsister]

1. I love this lady! Rec'd, for her compassion and intelligence. nt

[Karenina]

4. Me too!

[Number23]

13. She appears to be a very loveable woman.

Every single person that I've met when I've been to Jordan would easily lay down their life for their beautiful Queen Rania.

[mckara]

26. I Love Her, Too!

If I was a king, my life would be more satisfying.

:rofl:

[Poll_Blind]

2. Dignity.

PB

[Sultana]

3. One of fav. Queens

She's of Palestinian descent, so is some members of the Hashemite Royal family.

May peace in Gaza come soon, inchallah.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

5. I agree

I hope this ends soon. I also hope that it changes people's opinions on Israel. I remember in my high school there was a general fear of criticising Israel because of what had happened in WWII, we were always supposed to sympathise with them always.

I started to criticise them after I saw the similarities between this and the NI Troubles. Thankfully the British didn't bomb the hell out of NI after Omagh (as I was in NI at the time) and both Protestants and Catholics alike condemned the attack, and thus began the road to actually working together. Imagine my surprise to see a small Irish flag, green white and gold (I never say the other colour) flying in St Georges' Market in Belfast in 2005.

Israel really seems very stubborn in working with Hamas, Palestine or even Arabs (as the Israeli Arabs are very marginalised in Israel. I've always said it SHOULD be Israel that makes that move, not Hamas (and Hamas has already done so, from what I've read).

Israel in my opinion really has become the very thing it tried to escape from. If anyone tries to criticise me for that position, I'm going to say, "F-off, have YOU ever been in a place where you've been subjugated in society?" (I have a Gaelic first name and I couldn't even SAY it in certain places when I visited family in NI, I called myself Jane in place of my name sometimes and that was until the early 2000s).

I'm deaf and I've had my share of discrimination in the US but I've NEVER felt so alienated in Northern Ireland (late eighties, early nineties) just because I had an Irish Gaelic first name. After Omagh, I sensed that people were sick of it and in 2005 my favourite pub to visit in Donaghadee, they asked me what my name was and I told them my real name, and they didn't flinch. It's changing and people are realising that it's not worth it to hate.

Israel really needs to get its act together and ACTUALLY WORK WITH THESE PEOPLE. Israel seems to act dumb as to why rockets come from Gaza, (maybe its because you're squeezing the Palestinians out, eh?).

War doesn't work, for gods sake. Excuses for war is even worse.

[earcandle]

7. Kudos to the Irish

who laid down their guns and got out of the war economy.

[Baby Snooks]

8. When victims become victimizers...

There is nothing more tragic than when victims become victimizers. When the abused become the abusers. Sadly that is what has happened here.

We talk about Israel. What about Palestine? Where is Palestine? Until there is a Palestine, there will be no peace. Only war.

If there is a war again this time Israel may find itself fighting the entire Arab League. And if it ends up being wiped off the face of the map, well, you know, Israel has attempted to wipe Palestine off the face of the map.

I am not anti-Semitic but I am slowly becoming anti-Israel.

There are parallels to be drawn between the invasion of Gaza and the invasion of Iraq. The main one is the attitude that might makes right.

It does not. It merely makes wrong.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

10. My problem with that term

As a historian, I've always known "Semitic" as a type of religion that derived from the Semites which is pretty much Arab, Jewish and Christian. If you're christian and you're called Anti-Semitic because you criticised Israel, does that make you anti-Christian. It's my long winded argument which I do not wish to make here but I'm a historian and I'm used to these debates.

I am in principle not anti-Israel but I'm certainly anti- the religious zealotism that is used to run the state of Israel. If Israel actually let the Israeli Arabs have a say in politics and have their representatives elected to government, the star of David in the Israeli flag could be useless in the face of religious cooperation and the Likud party is afraid of that.

It is more about working with the other side and Israel has continually refused to do that (even when Hamas had agreed to talks with Israel).

I hope this situation changes peoples' opinion on Israel and they do not have to be so fearful of criticising it like we criticise the US when it does brash decisions like the Iraq war.

[bagrman]

24. When the press is controled by a group that is pro-Isreal then

for most Americans they will only going to get one view of what is going on. The vast majority of us are to lazy to look deeper into the any situation to see what has led up to any new conflict.

[DissedByBush]

25. Why agree to talks?

Israel agrees to talks all the time.

Hamas and Israel come to an agreement.

Then Israel suffers further attacks.

Then Israel fights back.

Then Hamas wants to talk again.

It's a vicious cycle that needs to end. It can only end when Israel's attackers know that reprisal will be so horrible that further attacks aren't worth it. Or it will end when the Arabs get what they want, which is the destruction of Israel. Unfortunately for Israel ending it gives Hamas a PR point that Israel won't agree to talks.

Me, I stopped believing the victim card the Palestinians use a long time ago. Mice are smart enough to stop pressing the button that causes them to get zapped.

So what do you think a cooperative government would look like in a consolidated Palestine (excluding the historical Palestine of Jordan and Syria)? I think it would be Muslim majority and Sharia law, and any Jews left who survive the initial massacre could kiss any rights they had goodbye.

[acmavm]

27. So following your 'logic' the only solution is to kill them all?

[DissedByBush]

29. That's the stated Arab solution

I'm hoping the Israelis can get away with making the Arabs too afraid to attack anymore.

[Teaser]

6. I wish she was allowed to have multiple husbands

She's so cool, I'd stand in line.

[DutchLiberal]

9. Somehow I doubt she would encourage people speaking out about Jordan.

Easy to promote voicing favorable opinions, when there's no freedom of speech in your own country.
I'm surprised so many people get fooled by her, just because she looks great.

[iconicgnom]

11. She and her husband, the king and queen of photo-ops. Totally bought and paid for.

Good on cheap lip service to "humanitarian concerns", but totally in the pocket of Israel and the US.

[DutchLiberal]

12. I mean: how *dare* she talk about humanitarian rights?

When the people in Jordan don't have any? Why is DU falling for this? Wake up!

[orleans]

14. but does that make what she is saying wrong?

full disclosure: i didn't watch the video, i'm only reading this thread.

[iconicgnom]

18. It isn't "wrong", it's just lip service, when she and her husband are in a position to do more.

But they don't. They're US puppets. The lip service is just an attempt to quieten the distress of her "subjects".

[Eryemil]

16. My thoughts exactly. Jordan is a hellhole, like practically all of the middle east

[concerned canadian]

17. maybe within hellholes there are people working for change

Like queen Rania. She has fought for the rights of women and children, education reform and other initiatives, as her biography

testifies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Rania. And her husband appears to be a reformer and advocate of Peace.

[hulka38]

15. It's good to be the King.

[olegramps]

19. I would rather be a prince.

Kings get all the blame and the prince gets the pretty girls. Princes can travel and carouse. That is their lot in life. As to being King, no thanks.

[LatteLibertine]

20. Agreed

What is happening is not unlike bombing a concentration camp. Get rid of blockades that effect medical supplies, food and water.

[pjt7]

22. That's a decent clip, but I hope

to see a lot more of her if this things goes on & get's worse.

She is a Palestinian, by birth.

[BlueMTexpat]

21. So far as I know, Rania and Abdullah are not bombing Palestinians

in Jordan. So why are there some posters who discount Rania's humanitarian concerns about Palestinians in Gaza, which is being bombed and invaded with US complicity if not outright encouragement, because things are not perfect in Jordan?

Hell, things are far from perfect in this "greatest country in the world." Does that mean that we cannot speak out about wrongs elsewhere in the world?

[freeradicalm]

23. It has not gone unnoticed...

by me that this little gang of pro-Israeli policy trolls(not sure it it's the same posters, but it is the same MO) will swoop in with the same MO and criticize DU, the intelligence of it's readers, etc....whenever someone articulates a humanitarian concern of IDF heavy-handedness. This very graphic link that shows the situation very clearly of the Palestinian civilian population bears a repeat posting. And beware, it is very graphic, posted originally by another fellow concerned DUer. www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b3_1230864719

[World Traveller]

28. I used to be pro-Israel, but no more

I was born right after WW 2 and grew up being very pro-Israel.

Read Diary of Anne Frank when I was 11, saw the movie Exodus when I was 13, read many stories of Jewish suffering at the hands of inhuman Nazis during WW 2.

But now I think of the Israel as being the bullies of the Middle East, who have adopted many of the tactics once used against them, particularly "collective punishment", where the innocent are bombed and made to suffer, because they happen to live near or be related to a Palestinian militant.

I think the journey I have taken is shared by many - clearly, the Europeans, and increasingly Americans, where latest surveys show approx 50% oppose Israel's actions in Gaza.

Whether this will make an immediate difference in American policy remains to be seen, but not likely, given AIPAC's power and money.

I read an article by Immanuel Wallersteinof of Binghamton University, written about a year or 2 ago, saying Israel's best future prospects lie in better relations with its neighbors.

Because, he said, America, virtually its only major ally, is on a downward trend, in terms of both economic and military power worldwide, ie, with its weakening economic position vis-a-vis the rest of the world, the U.S.cannot sustain a super-power military establishment and open-ended military support for Israel indefinitely.

Plus, in the past, it was much easier to hide Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian population from Americans, via suppression of relevant news in U.S. major media. With camera phones, Youtube, and Liveleak, more and more film clips and photos of the suffering of Gaza's civilian population are leaking out.

So that's it, from 1 DU-er, formerly very pro-Israel, and now very appalled with Israel and with very strong sympathies for the civilian Palestinian population.

[Hieronymus]

30. I think many can agree with what you said ... I certainly do.