The Arab Boycott Council against Israel is threatening to boycott Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, for accepting an invitation to a party to be run jointly by the Women’s International Zionist Organization and Prince Philip’s pet children’s aid charity aboard a ship being completed in a Glasgow shipyard now for the Israeli merchant marine. The Sunday Express reported here today.
The vessel is the Nili, a $5,600,000, 6,000-ton ferry being finished now at the yards of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., in Glasgow, for the Geneva-based Somerfin Company, and is to be dedicated officially soon on the Thames. WIZO and Prince Philip’s children’s aid charity jointly have scheduled a gala party to be held aboard the Nili when it arrives here, under the sponsorship of a number of noted personalities, including Mrs. Elaine Blond, sister of the late Lord Marks, and Mrs. Miched Sieff.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the Arab Boycott Council’s announcement, declaring that Prince Philip was interested primarily in the fact that the ship was being built in Scotland and saying that the Palace was under the impression that the party was being held solely for the benefit of the Prince’s own charity organization. The Boycott Council at Cairo has issued a statement, the Sunday Express reported, declaring: “We are extremely upset that Prince Philip should appear to align himself so closely with the cause of Zionism, our bitterest enemies.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.