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.
It's not (only) about you.
Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.
Sure, we'll remove all ads from your page and you'll unlock access to some excellent Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.
Join the Times of Israel Community
Join our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Monday, December 9, 2024
