King Charles praises Israeli president for judicial reform mediation
King Charles III of Great Britain, who was crowned on Saturday, reportedly commended Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his proactive role in solving the Jewish state’s current judicial overhaul controversy.
The British king urged Herzog to continue facilitating a compromise solution to the predicament the country currently finds itself in. Herzog assured the king that “Israel is a vibrant democracy.”
Herzog’s family history is closely linked to Great Britain.
Chaim Herzog, the late father of the current Israeli president, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1918. During the Second World War, Herzog served as an officer in the British military before eventually becoming an Israeli general and president.
In addition, the Israeli president’s grandfather, Yitzhak Halevi Herzog, served as the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland before eventually becoming chief rabbi in the former British Palestine Mandate.
King Charles, who replaced his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, was anointed with oil from Jerusalem’s religiously important Mount of Olives during his coronation.
During her 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth visited 120 countries worldwide, including many Middle Eastern states but never visited the Jewish state.
By contrast, Charles already visited Israel three times in his previous role as the crowned Prince of Wales. In 2020, then-Prince Charles attended the World Holocaust Forum event in Israel to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz.
He had also attended the funerals of both Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and President Shimon Peres in 2016.
Many in the Jewish community and friends of the Jewish state wonder whether King Charles III will deviate from his mother’s reign by becoming the first British king to visit the modern State of Israel.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
