the queen was often thought to have had a strained relationship with israel.  despite her visiting more than 120 countries and travelling around a million miles during her 70 years on the throne, she never visited the country. in september 2022 after elizabeth's death, stuart polak, the honorary president of the influential conservative friends of israel group (cfoi), claimed that "the royal family were prohibited by the foreign office from visiting israel". others have given alternative interpretations. writing in 2012 of the queen's failure to visit israel, the former haaretz editor-in-chief david landau said: "this marvellous, dedicated, 86-year-old sovereign is nobody's puppet.  "if she wanted to visit the jewish state or have one of her close family visit it, she could insist on it, and get her way." some have speculated that elizabeth had a negative attitude to israel due to the violent insurgency waged against the british mandate in palestine by zionist armed groups in the 1940s, before israel's declaration of independence.
European