Prince Harry: UK antisemitism ‘deeply troubling,’ Mideast violence cannot justify it
Amid wave of attacks, prince laments Britain’s Jews ‘feel unsafe’ in their homes; implies criticism of Israel but says nothing can justify ‘hostility toward an entire people or faith’
LONDON — Prince Harry on Thursday said a rise in antisemitism in Britain is deeply troubling and that whatever anger people felt about events in the Middle East, nothing could justify hostility towards people or faiths.
In an article for the New Statesman magazine, Harry, 41, made thinly veiled criticism of some policies of the Israeli government, but said legitimate protest should not spill over into hatred.
“Across the country, we are seeing a deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitism,” King Charles’ younger son wrote on Thursday.
“Jewish communities — families, children, ordinary people — are being made to feel unsafe in the very places they call home,” he wrote. “That should alarm us, but also unite us.”
Britain has seen a surge in antisemitism against the country’s 290,000-strong Jewish community since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, with a spate of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London in recent weeks and two Jewish men stabbed in April in what police are treating as a terrorist incident.
Some politicians and Jewish community leaders said the antisemitism has been fanned by extremist messages at pro-Palestinian protests.
London police have said they are planning an “unprecedented” operation on Saturday ahead of expected large pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration rallies.
In his article, Harry, who did not reference Israel directly, said there was “deep and justified alarm at the scale of loss in the Middle East” and that images of destruction from Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere had “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,” Harry, who now lives in California in the United States, said.
“Nothing, whether criticism of a government or the reality of violence and destruction, can ever justify hostility toward an entire people or faith,” he added.
The prince was himself pilloried for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party 20 years ago, and also acknowledged this.
“I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes — thoughtless actions for which I have apologized, taken responsibility and learned from,” he said.
The Times of Israel Community.