Former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has claimed that the late Queen Elizabeth II believed every Israeli was “either a terrorist or a son of a terrorist” and steadfastly refused to allow Israeli officials into Buckingham Palace, except for international occasions.
Speaking at a gala in London celebrating Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology, Rivlin described the relationship between Israel and the queen as “a little bit difficult.” Rivlin served as Israel’s president from 2014 to 2021, while Queen Elizabeth, who passed away in 2022, spent 70 years on the throne without visiting Israel.
A Royal Snub or Political Chess?
According to Rivlin, the queen avoided any official interactions with Israeli officials. “She refused to accept any Israeli official into Buckingham Palace,” Rivlin stated, doubling down when questioned. “These are my words, this is what I said.”
The late monarch’s frosty approach has long been speculated upon. While she managed to clock up visits to over 120 countries during her reign, Israel remained conspicuously absent from her travel itinerary. Some suggest this was down to British foreign policy, while others argue it was a personal decision.
Whispers from the Palace Corridors
In 2012, former Haaretz editor David Landau suggested the queen wasn’t anyone’s puppet: “If she wanted to visit Israel, she could insist on it.” Others point to Britain’s fraught history in Palestine during the 1940s, where Zionist groups waged a violent insurgency against British rule.
One eyebrow-raising anecdote comes from the queen’s visit to Jordan in 1984. Upon seeing Israeli fighter jets overhead, she allegedly remarked, “How frightening,” to which Queen Nour of Jordan replied, “It’s terrible.” Later, when shown a map of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, the queen reportedly said, “What a depressing map.”
Enter King Charles: A Royal Reset?
While Queen Elizabeth avoided Israel, her son King Charles has taken a different approach. As Prince of Wales, he made an official visit to Israel in 2020 and even toured the occupied West Bank, expressing his hope for “freedom, justice, and equality to all Palestinians.”
Charles, however, hasn’t escaped controversy. A 1986 letter he wrote surfaced in 2017, in which he suggested the Arab-Israeli conflict stemmed partly from the “influx of foreign, European Jews.” Most strikingly, he urged a US president to “stand up to the Jewish lobby.”
Royals and Controversy Continue
Prince William’s 2018 visit to Israel marked the first official royal trip to the country, but tensions remain. Earlier this year, Prince William called for an end to the Gaza war, a move that reportedly “dismayed” the Israeli government, though they refrained from public criticism to avoid a spat with the future king.
While Queen Elizabeth’s approach to Israel remains a subject of debate, it seems the next generation of royals are taking steps to walk a diplomatic tightrope. Whether that’s progress or merely polite footwork, only time will tell.
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