Prince Harry has described rising antisemitism in Britain as “deeply troubling”, saying that while people are entitled to feel anger over events in the Middle East, there can be no justification for hostility towards individuals or faith communities. In an article for the New Statesman, the Duke of Sussex appeared to make a veiled criticism of the Israeli government, while stressing that legitimate protest should never tip into hatred.
“Across the country, we are seeing a deeply troubling rise in antisemitism,” Prince Harry wrote. “Jewish communities – families, children, ordinary people – are being made to feel unsafe in the very places they call home.” The number of antisemitic hate crimes recorded in April in London was the highest in two years, recent data showed, as the Metropolitan police committed to deploying 100 extra officers to protect Jewish communities.
Among the offences were attempted arson attacks at Finchley Reform synagogue on 15 April and at the former premises of the charity Jewish Futures in Hendon three days later. A further attempted arson attack targeted a memorial wall in Golders Green on 28 April. Golders Green was also the scene of a double stabbing on 29 April that is subject to a terrorism investigation.
Prince Harry also condemned rising Islamophobia, writing that when anger leads to attacks on “communities – whether Jewish, Muslim, or any other – it ceases to be a call for justice and becomes something far more corrosive.” The prince, who now lives in California, has been criticised in the past for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party 20 years ago and for describing a Pakistani member of his platoon as “our little Paki friend”. In his article, he acknowledged these mistakes, writing: “I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes – thoughtless actions for which I have apologised, taken responsibility and learned from.”
Harry’s intervention comes as the archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, warned of a “horrifying increase in antisemitic violence” in Britain, saying it was “completely unacceptable” that Jewish communities lived in fear and with heavy security. She added: “This is not a problem for the Jewish community to solve. It’s on all of us – every single member of our society – to call out antisemitism whenever we see it.”
