King Charles III and his affinity for Zionism
It has only been three weeks since the accession to the British throne of Charles the third, yet during this short period there have been a multitude of articles claiming that Charles is a friend of Muslims and, by extension, of the Palestinians.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a new hereditary monarch has assumed power in Britain. Charles III has received the full thrust of the British establishment, with numerous prominent assets mobilized to beautify his image in the eyes of his subjects.
He has served as an arms lobbyist for decades, smoothing arms sales for BAE Systems in the Middle East. He has also been found to accept cash gifts and plastic bags from Arab Monarchs, purportedly in exchange for state honours.
He is also believed by many to have had a role in the killing of his former wife, Princess Diana Spencer, and her Muslim fiancé, Dodi Al Fayed. Both the father of Dodi and Diana herself pointed the finger in his direction. Diana had sent a letter to her lawyer six months before she died, predicting the exact way she would be killed, claiming, Charles was behind the plan.
Clearly Charles is, undoubtedly, of questionable character, but what has not been examined is his relationship with the Israel lobby.
The monarch has been a key patron of the World Jewish Relief Organization for many years. The organization shares fundraisers with Zionist settlements and is funded by key Israel lobbyist and convicted fraudster Gerald Ronson.
Charles described Israel lobbyists Jonathan Sacks as a trusted guide, an inspired teacher and a true and steadfast friend.
Jonathan Sacks
The former chief rabbi of Britain was the President of the United Jewish Israel Appeal, which is one of the three national institutions of the Zionist entity. Baron Sacks was also on the board of an anti BDS Israeli lobby group targeting school children called “One Voice”. Jonathan Sacks also described anti Zionism as the new anti-semitism, a key theme of the Israel lobby group in Britain.
He described the Israeli military as instilling a sense of genuine altruism. The rabbi also heaped praise on the controversial birthright Israel program, claiming it was "perhaps the greatest single innovation in Jewish life in the past quarter century".
His death was mourned by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid claiming that he misses conversations with him, and that his presence in the world made him a better person. Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, described Sacks as "a giant of a man".
The Israel lobby in England seems to have been quietly mobilized around the campaign to improve Charles's image in the Muslim community.
A senior fellow at the NATO think tank, the Atlantic Council, Ben Judah, has been a key proponent of the idea that Charles harbors some deep affection for the Muslim faith. He presumptuously writes in The Washington Post that "Britain's new head of state is an admirer of Islam, a critic of Western interventionism, and the champion of multiculturalism".
It's important to note that Ben Judah came of age writing for a key Israel lobby rag, the Jewish Chronicle, in which he proudly describes Jacob Farge Raphael, a peer of Judah's grandfather and advisor to Narendra Modi, as a hero and a one man AIPAC in Calcutta.
During the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn, Judah also revealed himself as a fervent supporter of key Israel lobby groups writing: "Only this year have I begun to feel truly proud of British Jews. We are proud of the dogged exposure done by Jewish activists like the campaign against anti-semitism. We are proud of the Jewish Chronicle for revealing a flourishing culture of conspiracy theories inside the Labour Party, because who else is going to do it for you?"
It is clear a mobilization to gain support for Charles is taking place in the Muslim community. Who exactly is behind it only time will tell?
Professor David Miller is an academic and former professor at Bristol University and a leading British scholarly critic of Israel, co founder and co director of the lobbying watchdog initiative Spin Watch.
Roshan Salih is editor of Five Pillars, a Muslim news website based in the United Kingdom and has been a journalist for over 25 years, starting his career in local newspapers before moving into TV journalism with “London Weekend Television”. He's also worked for Al-Jazeera, Islam Channel, and Press TV where he was the head of news in London for five years. He has reported from over 25 countries, including on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Egyptian revolution, he is also the author of a much recommended book “Confessions of a Muslim Journalist”.
There is currently some talk about the relationship that King Charles supposedly has with Islam, is there any merit to this?
Well, he's certainly interested in Islam, perhaps more so than any monarch in British history, and he has come out with statements praising Islam from time to time.
I personally think it's a superficial relationship. I think about what we could describe Charles as, he's a perennialist, so he's somebody who believes all religions contain an element of truth, and they can be paths to God.
But I think we have to balance this with the fact that he sold lots of weapons to Middle Eastern dictatorships, he's very embedded with the Israeli establishment, so I don't think we should go you know, cock-a-hoop about his links to Islam.
I think it's an academic interest which doesn't go much further than that.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
In 2017 Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks visited occupied Palestine and in that annual Jerusalem Day March of the Flags, he said in a promotional video: "joining in with the celebration will be one of the great moments of your life and mine".
Could you explain the context and what Jerusalem Day signifies?
Jerusalem Day is something that they hold every year, he went on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem, as they would say, which, of course, was the 50th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Jerusalem.
And Jerusalem Day is a moment where Palestinians stay in their homes or leave, and settlers and Zionists parade around the center of the old town, waving Israeli flags and making chants like death to the Arabs, and a second Nakba will come soon, and such racist chants.
So this was the leader of British Judaism, endorsing an out and out racist rampage around the streets of Jerusalem.
Now the interesting thing is that even some Zionists think this is a little bit off, and even the Times of Israel, as well as Haaretz, the nominally left wing Israeli paper, published a column denouncing this and saying he really shouldn't do this.
So there's a real indication here of the attachment of the leader of Judaism to the extreme settler movement, which I think people don't really understand.
Professor David Miller, Academic
So are you saying that perhaps this wouldn't have been the man that the heir to the throne, as he was at the time, should have been aligning himself with?
That's right, Charles has made all sorts of positive comments about Sacks, as you can see in the historical record, and there's a key disjunction here, isn't there, between Charles as the perennialist who sees some value in all religions, which of course is a reasonable position, to the actual fact of the people who inhabit those offices in this case, Sacks who was a supporter of extreme settlement movements.
Professor David Miller, Academic
Would you agree that at this point we should be focusing on who is supporting Charles's position as a friend of the Muslims, and by extension, a friend of Palestinians?
We should look at it, absolutely. I think there is a small minority of Muslims that are trying to push this idea that Charles is a pro Islam monarch and they have been for quite a long time. They often have access to elites in this country that have access to Prince Charles himself.
But I think, as the editor of 5 Pillars British Muslim magazine, we've been getting quite a lot of feedback on this. And I think the vast majority of Muslims are firmly anti monarchy, and especially the younger Muslims.
You get some older Muslims that may be really grateful to Britain for giving them the green card to come into this country in the 1960s. They could escape poverty; they still have some nostalgia for the Queen and for the monarchy.
But I think British Muslims born and bred here, especially, and that is a majority now, they can see the monarchy for what it is, an elitist institution, which is actually against Islamic values because Islam is a very meritocratic religion and the monarchy goes completely against that.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
And by default, here, David, it's about who is also helping to promote this message, from the Israeli side, perhaps, that Charles is a friend to all, especially with regard to Palestine.
Yeah, so I mean, if people might have seen some of this I mean, there's been a positive rash of comments from Zionists, and including the far right of Zionism, the Islamophobic, openly Islamophobic parts of Zionism, saying Charles is a friend of the Jews, he's certainly not someone who should be criticized, and the kind of statements that Charles has made about Palestine, supporting the idea of Palestinian rights or State for Palestine, are the kinds of views which would get you cancelled as an anti Semite normally, so there's something very odd going on there.
They could have taken the line that he's an anti Semite, we must criticize them, but no, the whole organized Jewish community, the whole the Zionist world in the UK has come out with full page adverts in the Jewish Chronicle supporting Charles and saying how fantastic he is for the Jews. So that's a really interesting clue to what's happening.
Professor David Miller, Academic
And what about Muslims here, surely there should be a conversation about who we are supporting and why?
I think if British Muslims believe that, you know, the accession of Charles to the throne is going to herald some new, fantastic dawn for British Muslims in this country, I think that they should be disabused of that straightaway.
I think ultimately, he is a representative of the state, the state is treading a line towards, draconian attitudes towards Muslim activism, it is going down the route of France where, literally, they're shutting down Muslim organizations for no reason whatsoever.
I think that is the trajectory of British Islam in this country. And I don't think Charles is going to oppose that in any way. Ultimately, he's going to do the bidding of the state because he represents the state.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
Could you tell us a little bit more about these groups that Charles supports such as The World Jewish relief, and the JLGB, the Jewish lads and Girls Brigade?
It is the Jewish Lads and Girls brigade, which is a kind of Jewish boy scouts or girl guides, and of course it sounds like an innocent youth organization that would be seen as appropriate for royal sponsorship, just like the Boy Scouts have royal sponsorship.
But of course it's a Zionist organization, it is officially signed up to membership of the Zionist Federation, it receives funding, as do almost all Zionist youth groups, from the United Jewish Israel appeal, which is the key and the biggest fundraiser for Israel in this country, which bankrolls almost all the Zionist groups for both young people, youth, and young adults, which is a huge number of organizations, which people aren't really aware of.
So there's a sense here of an attempt to insulate the Crown from that, from the kind of harsh Zionist position but these are not Zionist organizations, they are funded by key Zionist fundraisers, and so you have to ask the question about that, what is the association of a king with Zionist organizations?
Professor David Miller, Academic
British Muslims are being invited, or as some would say, intimidated into supporting the monarchy
The controversial singing of the national anthem in a London Mosque has been met with sharp criticism from the Muslim community. The decision to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth and pledge allegiance to Charles in the mosque has stirred up a swift response from many.
The ceremony was attended by a few prominent figures, including the alleged Palestinian ambassador in London, appointed by the comprador Palestinian Authority, Husam Zomlot. The trustee board of the mosque behind the initiative reveals that it is run by a consortium of Arab governments, at the head of them, the Saudi regime.
The Mosque has in the past tried but failed to host Israel lobby group, The Board of Deputies. There is also evidence that the Mosque has worked with them previously. Perhaps most shocking is that the mosque itself was reported to have over 5000 shares in the arms giant BAE Systems.
This Arms Company has made billions of pounds manufacturing weapons used mostly on Muslims around the world. One of the key pushers of this company's hardware to governments in the Middle East has been Charles prior to his accession to the throne.
The organization which took credit for this patriotic rendezvous was a mysterious outfit by the name of Naz Legacy Foundation which works closely with The Board of Deputies, and was founded by Harris Bokhari, OBE.
He was cultivated by the US State Department on their International Visitor Leadership Program in 2017. Following on from that, he launched a youth mentoring program in partnership with the US Embassy in London in 2019. He is also reported to have met the Israeli ambassador to the UK at a reception hosted by former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Naz Legacy also features some other questionable characters, such as Tim Carlton Jones, who also currently works for the PR group Edelman, which is run by Richard Edelman, director of the settlement building Jerusalem Foundation and the Atlantic Council.
Before working for Naz legacy, Tim Carlton Jones worked for lobbying firm Bell Pottinger, which worked for BAE Systems, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and the Pentagon's Joint Psychological Operations Task Force in occupied Iraq.
Another character of interest at Naz Legacy is Hannah Kaufman, who was also cultivated by the US Department of State on their International Visitors Leadership Program. She was also on the advisory board for the Israel lobby group, The Union of Jewish Students.
So here we have a picture of who exactly is attempting to portray Charles as a friend to the Muslim community and enforce loyalty.
How does the Muslim community feel about the singing of the national anthem in a mosque?
Yeah, overwhelmingly negative. I think that. I mean, Regent's Park Mosque, London Central Mosque is a mosque that is basically run by the Saudis and Egypt, two reactionary regimes that are normalizing [relations] with Israel as well. So, you know, what, British Muslims, they don't really expect too much from London central mosque, but even this was a little bit shocking, because ultimately, it's a place of prayer.
And you know, the British National Anthem is kind of like a Christian prayer. So for that to happen in a mosque is not appropriate. Some would say It is Haram. It's not allowed. It's not permitted from an Islamic point of view. But so it's overwhelmingly negative.
I think British Muslims are split over the national anthem itself. Some believe that it shouldn't be sung by British Muslims anywhere because it's a symbol of the oppressive colonialist British state, and others say no, you know, we are British citizens after all, so it's nothing wrong with that.
But certainly the fact that it was sung in a mosque was sacrilegious to a certain extent.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
Some might argue that the anthem is a politically neutral thing which doesn't have any political baggage, what is your oppositional response to this?
I'm not sure I would have an oppositional response but more of a, an analysis of actually what the words are in the anthem And of course it talks about knavish tricks and ... many of us do not know words and that second verse is quite often not sung.
And some people aren't aware of that. But of course, there's also the unofficial verse about Scotland, which, which of course I know about, which talks about and like a torrent rush, rebellious Scots to crush, God save the king, that's not sung and hasn't been sung for some considerable time.
But there's a history here to the national anthem, which is about the politics of the creation of the state. Remember its name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which is England, Wales, and Scotland, and Northern Ireland. So there are four different parts to this alleged nation, which was born in blood ... let's not forget that, because that's relevant to today.
And of course, people, some Muslims, other people on the left refer to, not the national anthem, but to the Union Jack, as the butcher's apron; the flag which is put around the British Empire as it slotted its way across the world.
How many countries in the world are there that Britain hasn't invaded? It is a very small number. So that's a real thing. It's not stopped. It's not stopped invading other countries.
We invaded Iraq. We've been involved in Syria in Libya. And we're currently involved in all sorts of other conflicts, but we shouldn't forget that that has something to do with the British; it's not something entirely separate from Charles.
Professor David Miller, Academic
You have reported extensively for 5 Pillars on the pressure to praise the monarchy during, and in the aftermath of, the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
People monitored your social media, they checked in; there were consequences to be seen as publicly critiquing that situation in that moment. What are you finding out?
It was obviously wall to wall propaganda for a couple of weeks, wasn't it? I mean, 25% of this country wants to abolish the monarchy. So you think that our national broadcaster, which is supposed to represent you know, the whole of the country like the BBC, which is paid for by you and me, by taxpayers, licence fee payers, you'd think that they would represent a minority view but they didn't, it was wall to wall propaganda.
And for Muslims, I think the space for Muslim activism is narrowing in this country and Muslim activists are under a lot of pressure, I think. They're denied the right to free speech, like, you know, the rest of the population is and genuinely, we're feeling the pressure in terms of our bank accounts being closed down, the space for us to express our views as citizens of this country, lawfully and peacefully express our views a citizen of this country, is narrowing.
And, you know, at national moments, I would say that, obviously the Russian invasion, you know, the Ukraine issue, and the Queen's death, that's where you see the propaganda machine kick into effect, you know, and dissenting voices completely silenced.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
The involvement of Zionist groups in some of these activities, some say, echoes strategies adopted by Zionists that we've revealed on previous programs. Can you just expand on that a little bit, please?
I'm not surprised by these things. But actually I was a little bit surprised by this organization which was involved with the mosque, which ended up with the national anthem being played. It wasn't just the Saudis and the Egyptians; it was Zionist organizations involved directly with the mosque.
I think that's, to my knowledge, anyhow, quite unusual for Zionist organizations to be involved. Of course, they had a cover they were called something else, but when you look into it, you've got to scratch the surface only a little bit to discover, you know, people who are very firmly inserted in the Zionist movement, in Zionist organizations, and indeed, of course, the connections to PR firms into the arms industry.
All of that is really not very pleasant, and not really the kind of thing you'd expect. I think Muslims wouldn't expect and even normlessness could expect for a mosque to be involved with.
Professor David Miller, Academic
The State Department Visitor Program
The State Department runs these visitor programs to indoctrinate young people, to put the US spin on things as they go through, educate and inform, as they would say, And of course it's very similar to the Israeli Birthright Program where they take young Jews over to Israel to indoctrinate them into Zionism.
And you see it in the careers of many of these people involved in these kinds of networks and that they go on to take positions which are firmly in line to assist in favor of NATO and in favor, essentially of whatever war the US might want to put on today, tomorrow, or the next day.
Professor David Miller, Academic
And for supporters of Palestine, how would this put the global attention back on that situation?
I think, ultimately, there's an attempt in this country to create a kind of British Islam, a state sponsored British Islam, which completely ignores the grassroots, the majority of Muslims in this country and their views, their desires, their beliefs. And I think Muslims should be very, very wary of what's going on.
And obviously neutering Palestinian activism is a key component of that, you know, literally, we're not allowed to tell the truth about Palestine anymore, and tell the truth about how the way Israel was created, how it sustained itself through war, occupation and oppression.
You know, focusing on the victimhood of the Palestinians, If we say that as Muslims, especially, even more than white people, quite frankly, because I think, you know, when, when a white person in this country is considered a dissident when they criticize the government, when a Muslim does it they are considered potential terrorists.
Roshan Salih, Journalist
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