File - Britain's late Queen Elizabeth II (R) stands with Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (L) and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales to watch a special flypast from Buckingham Palace balcony as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations, in London on June 2, 2022. (Daniel Leal/AFP)
Former president Reuven Rivlin is quoted as saying that ties between Israel and the late Queen Elizabeth II were “difficult” because of her views on the Jewish state.
“The relationship between us and Queen Elizabeth was a little bit difficult because she believed that every one of us was either a terrorist or a son of a terrorist,” Rivlin told a gala event in London commemorating 100 years of Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology, according to the British Jewish News.
“She refused to accept any Israeli official into [Buckingham] Palace, apart from international occasions,” he added, noting by way of comparison that King Charles III was always “so friendly.”
Throughout her decades as the UK’s head of state, Elizabeth cultivated amicable ties with Jewish communal figures, as well as cordial relations with Israeli leaders. Although she paid official visits to dozens of countries throughout her tenure, she never visited Israel.
Britain’s Prince Charles, left, meets President Reuven Rivlin at the president’s official residence in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020 (Victoria Jones/Pool via AP)
Then-Prince Charles came to Israel in 1995 and 2016 to attend the funerals of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, though those were not official visits. He made an official visit in 2020.
Amy Spiro contributed to this report.
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