Prince Harry says Mideast ‘violence and destruction’ cannot justify ‘troubling’ spike in antisemitism

Prince Harry says a rise in antisemitism in Britain is deeply troubling and that whatever anger people feel about events in the Middle East, nothing can justify hostility towards people or faiths.

In an article for the New Statesman magazine, Harry, 41, makes thinly veiled criticism of the policies of the Israeli government, but says legitimate protest should not spill over into hatred.

“Across the country, we are seeing a deeply troubling rise in antisemitism,” King Charles’s younger son writes. “Jewish communities — families, children, ordinary people — are being made to feel unsafe in the very places they call home. That should alarm us, but also unite us.”

In his article, Harry, who does not reference Israel directly, says there is “deep and justified alarm at the scale of loss in the Middle East” and that images of destruction from Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere have “shaken people to their core.”

“We have seen how legitimate protest against state actions in the Middle East does exist alongside hostility toward Jewish communities at home — just as we have also seen how criticism of those actions can be too easily dismissed or mischaracterized,” writes Harry, who now lives in California.

“Nothing, whether criticism of a government or the reality of violence and destruction, can ever justify hostility toward an entire people or faith.”

The prince was himself pilloried for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party 20 years ago and also acknowledges this: “I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes – thoughtless actions for which I have apologized, taken responsibility and learned from.”