1986 Prince Charles letter reveals shocking thoughts on Jews
Israel Hayom
November 12, 2017
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, came under sharp criticism Saturday night after it emerged that he once blamed "the influx of foreign Jews" for causing unrest in the Middle East and said an American president should "take on the Jewish lobby" in the United States.
The British Daily Mail reported Sunday that the incendiary comments are contained in a letter dated Nov. 24, 1986, to his close friend Laurens van der Post, which surfaced in a public archives.
Written immediately after an official visit to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar he made with Princess Diana, the then-38-year-old prince writes that the tour was "fascinating" and that he learned "a lot about the Middle East and Arab outlook."
The letter continues: "Tried to read bit of Koran on way out and it gave me some insight into way they [Arabs] think and operate. Don't think they could understand us through reading Bible though!
"Also I now begin to understand better their [Arabs'] point of view about Israel. Never realized they see it as a U.S. colony.
"I now appreciate that Arabs and Jews were all a Semitic people originally and it is the influx of foreign, European Jews (especially from Poland, they say) which has helped to cause great problems. I know there are so many complex issues, but how can there ever be an end to terrorism unless the causes are eliminated?
"Surely some U.S. president has to have the courage to stand up and take on the Jewish lobby in U.S.? I must be naive, I suppose!"
Responding to the revelation of the letter, Stephen Pollard, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, told the Daily Mail: "To me this is the most astonishing element of the prince's letter. The 'Jewish lobby' is one of the anti-Semitic themes that have endured for centuries. It is this myth there are these very powerful Jews who control foreign policy or the media or banks or whatever."
Pollard described the letter as "jaw-droppingly shocking," adding: "That they [the Prince's comments] come from the heir to the throne is unsettling, to put it mildly."
Whether the prince was referring to Jewish immigration before or after the Second World War, or both, is unclear.
"It is the absolute classic Arab explanation of the problems in the Middle East," said Pollard.
"And it is what everyone has always said the British aristocracy actually thinks – the idea that Jews were some kind of foreigners who had no real place in Israel until we decided to make it their homeland. Historically it is nonsense, and it's quite stunning when it comes from the heir to the throne," Pollard said.
A senior Israeli diplomatic source told the Daily Mail: "He [Charles] was traveling around the Gulf states, which in those years were very anti-Israel. It seems he was presented with a narrative in a very convincing way."
In 1993, the Daily Mail reported, Charles delivered what at the time was considered the most pro-Islamic speech ever made by a British royal family member.
He said: "Islam can teach us today a way of understanding and living in the world which Christianity is poorer for having lost. ... These two worlds, the Islamic and the Western, are at something of a crossroads in their relations. We must not let them stand apart."
In 2003, it was reported the prince had not been to the U.S. for the previous six years on Foreign Office advice, largely because of his criticism of U.S. policy in the Middle East.
A diplomatic source said at the time the prince had "in American terms and international terms, fairly dodgy views on Israel. He thinks American policy in the Middle East is complete madness."
A spokeswoman for Clarence House, the prince's official residence, said of the 1986 letter: "This letter clearly stated that these were not the prince's own views about Arab-Israeli issues but represented the opinions of some of those he met during his visit which he was keen to interrogate.
"He was sharing the arguments in private correspondence with a long-standing friend in an attempt to improve his understanding of what he has always recognized is a deeply complex issue to which he was coming early on in his own analysis in 1986.
"Over the years, the prince has continued his study of the complex and difficult themes he referenced here. He has built a proven track record of support for both Jewish and Arab communities around the world and has a long history of promoting interfaith dialogue and cultural understanding."
In May this year, the British Foreign Office canceled the prince's planned visit to Israel over fears it could harm relations with Arab states. The visit would have been the first official visit by a member of the British royal family to the Jewish state.
Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan and is a strong supporter of Israel, criticized the cancellation of the historic visit, telling The Sun that it was tantamount to "pandering" to Arab regimes and an "insult to British war dead."
The prince was in Israel last September for former President Shimon Peres' funeral, but that was not billed as an official visit. He used the occasion to visit the grave of his grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who is buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Where but to Israel did Charles think Jewish refugees could go? England certainly wanted nothing to do with those damn Jews.
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