Why Queen Elizabeth wouldn't let Israelis enter Buckingham Palace

 

Queen Elizabeth II

British Foreign Secretary David Lemmy met with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sarr on Tuesday evening. It is reported that they held the meeting secretly in London. British politicians have condemned David Lemmy for this incident. This stance of British politicians against Israel is not new. The late Queen Elizabeth II also did not like Israel.

Former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin himself admitted this. Several months ago, at an event at the Haifa Technion Institute in London, he said that the late Queen considered every Israeli to be 'either a terrorist or the child of a terrorist.' Not only that, but she would not even allow any Israeli official into Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom is home to the King or Queen, along with members of the royal family. Currently, King Charles III resides here with other royal family members.

The former Israeli president also said, "The relationship between Queen Elizabeth and us (Israel) was somewhat complicated."

Rivlin was the 10th President of Israel. He served from 2014 to 2021. Queen Elizabeth II, on the other hand, died in 2022.

The former Israeli president said, "She (Queen Elizabeth) would not allow any Israeli official inside the Palace (Buckingham) except for an international event."

It was sometimes thought that Queen Elizabeth had strained relations with Israel.

Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022. During her 70 years on the throne, she visited more than 120 countries. Despite traveling millions of miles during her lifetime, she never visited Israel.

After the Queen's death, Stuart Polk, honorary president of the influential Conservative Friends of Israel group, claimed that the Foreign Office had banned members of the royal family from traveling to Israel.

David Landau, former editor-in-chief of the country's influential newspaper Haaretz, wrote in 2012 about Queen Elizabeth's refusal to visit Israel. "If she (the Queen) had wanted to visit the Jewish state or someone close to her family had wanted to go there, she could have forced it and done so," he wrote.

Some believe that Queen Elizabeth held a negative attitude towards Israel due to the violent uprising of Zionist armed groups against the British Mandate in Palestine in the 1940s, before Israel declared independence.

Queen Elizabeth visited Jordan in 1984. During that visit, she spoke of how "terrifying" it was to see Israeli warplanes flying over the occupied West Bank.