At the recent conference on climate change in Paris, Prime Minister Netanyahu invited Prince Charles to visit Israel. However, according to a British government source, it will never happen, saying, “Until there is a settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Royal family can’t really go there… In Israel so much politics is caught up in the land itself that it’s best to avoid those complications altogether by not going there.”
Apparently the sight of a member of the royal family setting foot in Israel would be just too “complicated.” However, Prince Charles and the Queen are very well-traveled and don’t seem to have issues overcoming “complications” when it comes to pretty much any other country, so the Judean People’s Front has put together a list of just a few of the countries the British Royals have been able to visit without any difficulty.
- Bahrain (1986, 1989, 1997, 2007. sorry Shiite majority living under Sunni rule…)
- Bangladesh (1997)
- Cyprus (1986, shhh, no one tell the North)
- Egypt (1981, 1995, 2006)
- Falkland Islands (1999, lo siento la Argentina)
- India (8 times between 1975-2013, sorry Kashmir)
- Iran (2004)
- Iraq (2004)
- Ivory Coast (1977)
- Jordan (1993, 1999, 2004, 2013)
- Kazakhstan (1996)
- Kyrgyzstan (1996)
- Kuwait (1989, 1993, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2011. FYI, Kuwaiti women gained suffrage in 2005…)
- Libya (1954)
- Morocco (1995, 1996, 1999, 2010)
- Nigeria (1990, 1999, 2006)
- Oman (1985, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2013)
- Pakistan (2006)
- Qatar (1986, 1997, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014)
- Russia (1994, 2003)
- Saudi Arabia (1986, 1990, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014. Why visit a human rights disaster of a country only once when twelve times will do?)
- Sri Lanka (1998, 2005, 2013)
- Swaziland (1987, 1997)
- Turkey (1989, 1993, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2007)
- Turkmenistan (1996)
- UAE (1989, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2007)
- Uzbekistan (1996)
- Venezuela (1978, 1989, 1992)
- Yugoslavia (1978)
- Zimbabwe (1980)
The Prince did come to Israel in 1995 to represent the Queen at Rabin’s funeral (which was also the only time Hosni Mubarak visited as well). I guess the only time it’s ok to come to Israel is when Jews fulfill their true role in the eyes of the West: pitiable corpses. It seems Prince Charles simply does not have time to visit the world’s only Jewish State and the only democracy in the Middle East given his busy schedule meeting with dictators and human rights abusers.
Charles also got into some trouble a few years ago when his staff was invited to visit the Knesset. His aids got into hot water after accidentally CC’ing the Israeli ambassador on internal emails making plain they would never come to Israel because Israel would only want to use the opportunity to bring in His Royal Highness to “burnish its international image,” something the Prince only likes to do for paragons of human rights like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait.
As for Her Majesty the Queen, where has she been traveling to?
- Algeria (1980)
- Bahrain (1979)
- Bangladesh (1983)
- China (1986)
- India (1983, 1997)
- Iran (1996)
- Jordan (1984)
- Kuwait (1979)
- Liberia (1961)
- Maldives (1972)
- Morocco (1980)
- Qatar (1979)
- Oman (1979, 2010)
- Pakistan (1997)
- Russia (1994)
- Saudi Arabia (1979)
- Sri Lanka (1981)
- Sudan (1965)
- Tunisia (1980)
- Turkey (1971, 2008)
- UAE (1979, 2010)
- Yugoslavia (1972)
- Zimbabwe (1991)
And where was the Queen’s very first visit abroad all the way back in 1947?
Racist British South Africa, of course (note: while Apartheid did not officially begin until after 1948, many racist apartheid laws date back to the early Twentieth Century).
Good thing she won’t come to Israel – it might ruin her image!
