Queen Elizabeth, say the British Windsorologists, would never have gotten into trouble for giving an opinion on the war in Gaza. The British royal family avoids talking about politics, but that is what William, the heir to the crown, has done, who has the ambition to exercise more and more as a “global statesman”. And it has cost him numerous criticisms, such as that of the far-right Nigel Farage, who shamelessly advised him to “dedicate himself to the Baftas” (he is the president of the British Film Academy).
The Prince of Wales has surprised by affirming that “too many people have already died in the conflict” and calling for the cessation of hostilities, the urgent sending of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the return of the hostages by Hamas, all in a language of Churchillian tone (even in the darkest hour we must not succumb to despair) with touches of Obama (“there is always hope for a better future”).
William, who said he is “deeply affected as a father by the situation in Gaza”, made the intervention just as his father, King Charles III, has given up all public appearances after being diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday the monarch flew from Sandringham to Windsor Castle for the weekly interview with the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, the first since he is on the case of the disease.
The message from number one in the line of succession was sent by the royal household to the Foreign Office and Downing Street for approval, and not to deviate from the official Government line. In fact, it echoes similar comments from Sunak. Last night the House of Commons voted on a Labor proposal for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, but conditional on Hamas ceasing to pose a threat to Israel. The conservatives go further and demand the return of the hostages and progress towards a solution on the two-state formula to demand an end to hostilities in Tel-Aviv.
William plans to visit a synagogue in the coming days and, in general, the response to his message from rabbis and the Jewish community in Britain has been positive. Much more skeptical is that of the Israeli Government, which considers his words naive: “We – pointed out a spokesman – also want the fighting to end as soon as possible, but for that we need the release of the 134 hostages who are still in power of Hamas, and for the threat of its army to repeat the atrocities of October 7 (past, when it murdered more than 1,200 people) to disappear.
