(Telegraph-UK) Raf Sanchez - For 70 long years, Israelis have watched Britain's royals jet over their heads on visits to autocratic Middle Eastern countries without stopping in the Jewish state. Generations of Israeli presidents have extended invitations to Jerusalem. Each time they have been quietly rebuffed on the advice of the Foreign Office, which worried about upsetting the UK's Arab allies. But that decades-long snub will come to an end this summer when the Duke of Cambridge touches down at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport. The shift reflects Britain's deepening security and trade relationship with Israel as well as a broader realignment in the Middle East. Whereas Israel was once an awkward former colony with little to offer Britain except political heartburn, today it is a dynamic high-tech economy and a regional intelligence superpower. British and Israeli security services cooperate closely on counter-terrorism. While a royal visit might once have been met with fury in Arab capitals, today many of those Arab states are quietly aligning with Israel against their shared enemy Iran.
2018-03-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive