A new invitation for the British Royal Family to visit Israel for Balfour Declaration commemorations has been issued. It comes just days after UK media reported a previously-planned trip to the Holy Land had been binned by Whitehall bureaucrats.
Israel President Reuven Rivlin made the fresh offer during a meeting in Jerusalem with visiting Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
“We would be happy to welcome a member of the royal family here in Jerusalem, especially marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration,” the president said, according to the Times of Israel.
As Breitbart Jerusalem reported, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin extended the original invitation in Jerusalem last May during a meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
That historic state visit by Prince Charles was later canceled by UK Foreign Office officials worried that it might upset Arab nations in the region.
Prince Charles was also set to pay respects to 16,000 British and Commonwealth troops who died during the Palestine Campaign in 1917.
Previously rejected invitations, some going back 20 years, are a source of deep frustration for Israel, especially as the Royal Family has made high-profile visits to authoritarian regional neighbours like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to visit Britain in November to represent his country in marking the centenary of the Balfour Declaration.
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