Prince Harry says antisemitism in UK is "deeply troubling"

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Prince Harry has said a ​rise in antisemitism ⁠in Britain is deeply troubling and ​that whatever anger people felt about events in the Middle East nothing could justify hostility towards people or ​faiths.

In ‌an article for the New Statesman magazine, Harry, 41, made thinly-veiled criticism of policies of the Israeli government, ⁠but said legitimate protest should not spill over into ⁠hatred.

"Across the country, we are seeing ​a deeply troubling rise in anti-Semitism," King Charles' younger son wrote on Thursday. "Jewish communities – families, children, ordinary people – are being made to feel unsafe in the very places they call home. That ​should alarm ‌us, but also unite us."

Britain has seen a surge in antisemitism against the country's 290,000 Jews since the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, with a spate of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London in recent weeks and two ​Jewish men stabbed in April in what police are treating as a terrorist incident.

Some politicians and ‌Jewish community leaders said the antisemitism has been flamed by extremist messages at pro-Palestinian protests. On Saturday, London police have said they were ‌planning an "unprecedented" operation ahead of expected large pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration rallies.

In his article, Harry, who did not reference Israel directly, said there was "deep and justified alarm at the scale of loss in ​the Middle East" and that images of destruction from Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere had "shaken people to their core".

"We ‌have seen how legitimate protest against state actions in the Middle East does exist alongside hostility toward Jewish communities at home – just as we have also seen how criticism of those actions ⁠can ⁠be too easily dismissed or mischaracterised," Harry, who now lives in ‌California, said.

"Nothing, whether criticism of a government or the reality of violence and destruction, can ever justify hostility ​toward an entire people or ​faith."

The prince was himself pilloried for wearing a Nazi ‌uniform to a costume party 20 years ago and also acknowledged this.

"I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes – thoughtless actions for which I have apologised, taken responsibility and learned from," he said. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Sarah Young)