 concert will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. Of course, the King Prince Charles, the Queen is dead, long live the King, he is now the British monarch. You're seeing, of course, live pictures there of Buckingham Palace where crowds are starting to gather. But of course, the Queen passed away in Scotland at Balmoral Castle this afternoon. So back with us in studio British journalist Natalie Blenford and of course, Owen Altman, our senior international affairs correspondent. Natalie, you're a British subject, the Queen, as we say, a blessed memory, may her memory be blessed, the monarch during your entire lifetime and well beyond that, of course, your reaction? It's a shock. It just feels baffling to me that a couple of days ago she was pictured with the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and she did look frail. There was some speculation, she had a bruise on her hand. People were suggesting she'd had a cannula taken out, so she had been treated. But it seems a very quick demise to go from that to no longer being with us. Right, two over two day time. We don't know yet. There had been concern right over a health over the past couple of months, a schedule had been cut back, but nothing that seemed immediate life threatening. They always cited mobility issues and that she was frail and that she didn't have the strength. And, you know, we understand that, to have the strength to come down to London, to shake hands with the new Prime Minister, to go back again. It's a lot, it's a lot for anybody. But I think this is a big shock, it's come out of the blue. The statement earlier today, in a sense, warming everyone up to this idea. And then the announcement that she died this afternoon. So, many, many questions come to mind. One of them is, had she already passed away before the Royal Family arrived? Well, apparently, some of them apparently yes, because it said she passed away this afternoon. Yeah, yeah. So, Prince Charles may well have been by her side, her other children may not have been. And this is what I thought as the afternoon developed, I thought that they were perhaps gathering all the family there before they made the announcement, so that they were in a safe place, that they were all informed. And then it went public. So, I'm not that surprised from an organisational perspective, but from an emotional perspective, I am surprised. And of course, it's extremely, extremely sad. All right, well, let's go to our senior UKK correspondent, Jonathan Saccidote in London. Jonathan, just update us. And earlier you had mentioned plans for, to prepare preparations for the Queen's passing. Discuss that, I think, of the Operation London Bridge. It's been called to discuss what happens now. All right, we are having some audio problems with Jonathan. We will come back to him immediately. Oh, and to put this into some historical person, oh, let me go back to Jonathan Saccidote. Jonathan, please pick it up. Very sad moment that the death of Queen Elizabeth II has now been announced. And I think we'll see the grief of her family who have gathered around her in Belmoral reflected across the whole country as those plans for her state funeral are put in place. They are long-rehearsed, well-rehearsed plans. We will see a massive state funeral taking place. Already crowds, as you can see, gathering outside Buckingham Palace. They've been gathering there all day because of that announcement that was originally made saying that her doctors were concerned for her health. And now we have the announcement that she has indeed died. So in the days going forward, we will see Prince Charles and his consort, Queen Camilla, and he will now be King Charles announced and they will stay overnight in Belmoral this evening and they'll return tomorrow to London. I think that this will be a very difficult moment for Prince Charles, one of great, great sadness. Right, Jonathan, according to the tweet put up by the royal family, it said the Queen passed away this afternoon. And of course, now it's already early evening there in the UK. Maybe you help us understand why the palace decided to go about the announcement in this way. I think the Queen's health has always been a very private matter. And when her health is sufficiently bad that it needs to be announced to the country, everybody does worry about it. But this is something, a moment they'll want to have controlled very carefully. As I said, there have been these long worked out plans for what to do when she passes. They're important for constitutional reasons as much as anything else. As soon as she passes, Charles becomes King and that announcement needs to be worked out and made at the appropriate time. I think that for her family to be able to gather around her in Belmoral was also very important. And I think if there'd been a moment for them to say goodbye, that was part of what was necessary. And I think that they wanted to control the moment as well as to preserve the dignity of the Queen and the family and allow them their own private grief in this very public moment. Let me just ask you, Jonathan, of course, the Olives are going to be on now, as you mentioned, King Charles. But another figure, Prime Minister Liz Truss, just the days after taking office, now has to basically represent the government during this momentous occasion. Yes, you will have to sort of rise to this moment now in history. Indeed, Liz Truss really a baptism of fire in a way, having to deal with this in the first few days of her time in office. And we did see notice being passed to her, to Kirstama, the leader of the Opposition Labour Party in Parliament, as proceedings were going on there earlier in the day. Both of them looking very concerned at the news they'd been given privately. We don't yet know if they'd been told a bit more than we had at that time. I think that this will be one of many things that she has to deal with in the early days of her time in power. And this will be a key moment for British people, a key moment in the history of Great Britain, one that will really change the mood of how people are. And people are already in quite the dejected mood with things going on in the world. I think this is something that will only add to that sense of sadness and difficulty that people are experiencing already. All right, Jonathan Satchitodi, thank you for that. Of course, we'll be coming back to you during this special programming. Of course, condolences will be coming in from world leaders starting to come in also from here in Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Ben Agans tweeting now, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the United Kingdom and to the loved ones of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. The Queen served the international community over 70 years. And under her reign, UK-Israeli relations flourished. My thoughts are with the UK today. And Owen, it's interesting because the Queen, of course, took office at a time when UK-Israel relations were still quite tense after, of course, the mandate period and open conflict between Great Britain and Israel. And of course, that has changed. But as we mentioned in a previous hour, she actually never came to visit Israel. Though, of course, now the current King, King Charles, did more than once. Yeah, he's been here a number of times, Kalev, but you're absolutely right. She never came. It was a great disappointment to the public here. The thinking, as I understand it, Natalie could correct me if I was, if I'm wrong, is the concern in the palace about interfering somehow in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that had not yet been resolved. But at any rate, King Charles, or now King Charles, has been here a number of times for the funeral of the late Prime Ministries, Cockrabin, of course, of President Shimon Parris. We all remember that a few years ago with the Kippah that he wore with the royal seal, I think got a lot of attention. And I have to say, most poignantly for me, and if I'm not mistaken, the last, the most recent time he was here, I had Yad Vashem at the Holocaust Memorial in January of 2020, the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, many world leaders there. I covered it for the channel, and he gave a tremendous speech. It was a speech that stood out even among those world leaders there for its humanity, I think for its humility. And at least on me made a tremendous impression. And one wonders if this is a prince who was underestimated and will be able to really rise to the occasion now that, unfortunately, under tragic circumstances, he has become king. Right, and Natalie, let me ask you about that, because other than Prime Minister Liz Trusser just took office this week, all eyes now on King Charles. If that, right, if that's the name he chooses to keep, because correct he can choose, am I correct he could choose, perhaps unlikely at this stage of life. I'm not sure about that, but it's very strange to hear you saying King Charles, because of course he's always been Prince Charles, and he's always been Prince Charles, the man who would be king, but isn't king, because his mother has just held on, held on, held on with this incredible immunity and fabulous sort of stamina that she's had. So this is the thing with the royal family, is that the minute somebody passes away, we have to move on, this is the nature of it. So, you know, literally we've just had the announcement and already we're starting to think about what life will be like under King Charles. Well, let me ask you this, there's been a lot of questions, and I'm not going to rehash all the scandals recently involving the royal family, although there's certainly been plenty, of course, with her son, her grandson, but a lot of people felt that Queen Elizabeth maybe was the sort of the glue holding the royal family together in the UK and people questioning the future of the royal family when she when she was gone. I think so, because I think you sort of don't argue with the lady of that age and that level of experience, it's like she is from another era. And I think there's such a great respect for her within the family and within the British public and the Commonwealth. And I just think that a lot of the things that sort of, for example, Harry and Meghan have done, people have said, well, that's very offensive to the Queen, you know, to speak out. Well, for example, I have to say, true. And of course, then, yes, you know, so there's been stuff. But I feel like she's always managed to sort of stand back from it and be almost like on her own level, a slightly untouchable level. People are like, have opinions about the royal family, but the Queen is sort of beyond reproach these last few years. And now everything shifts. And Prince William will be the new heir to the throne, you know. So and then his children are the next few tiers. But of course, they're absolutely children. You know, they just went back to school today and they've just started a new school closer to their new home. So it shifts things a lot. And Harry sort of potentially comes back into the fold as a slightly more important member because he was always third in line to the throne and that the the Cambridge children are above him. But of course, they're children. So, you know, there's going to be is it so easy to let Harry walk away now that we've moved into this new era? May he have to be brought back? May he want to come back? I mean, we don't know. It's far too soon. I think what will be interesting now over the weekend will be to see what happens in the UK with the reaction of the public. Because just a week ago, we were here talking about Diana. The anniversary of her death, of course. Exactly. The hysteria that came after that. And now the Queen herself. So will it be as emotional? Will there be people weeping in the streets? Let's see what happens. I imagine that will be quite just a linger for a moment on the Queen's legacy. She was one of the towering figures of the 20th century, no less. And we just it almost sounds cliche to say this, right? We're a few days after the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev and said the same thing about him. But it's true of a very different persona, albeit. But it's true of Queen Elizabeth as well. Obviously, he was a constitutional monarch. She wasn't a politician in the way that Gorbachev was, for example, a statesman in the sense that he was. But she was such a powerful symbol of this enormous transition that Britain went through, right, for imperial power. Right. Even in the wake of World War II, it was obvious that the empire was on its decline. But still there, covering still a large part of the world's surface, even in 1952. And she presided over this very dignified decline that Britain has gone through. But where Britain has retained so much power and so much, not only economic power and political power and military power, but cultural power. And so much of that cultural power is because of her and because of the monarchy. And she, through her dignity and through her insistence of sticking with tradition, regardless of this transition, I think was a symbol for what happened in the society writ large. All right, well, you mentioned the Commonwealth. Of course, many of those countries were here in the region and part of the British Commonwealth. For example, the United Arab Emirates, which until 19, I think, I believe, 70 or 71 was, right? Let's see if we can go, can we go to our correspondent Bastion Burry in, okay, we're going to go to him in a bit. Let's just add this historical fact of the significance, of the historical significance of Queen Elizabeth. And Natalie, she was at the time of her death, the longest-serving monarch in British history, the longest-serving living monarch in the world, and the longest-serving monarch in all of world history, except for King Louis XIV of France, who ascended to the throne as a child, of course, and had a regency. So, I mean, the towering figure only barely touches it. Yeah, it's almost indescribable, her impact. And as I said before, you know, 70 years on the throne, that's 70 cycles of, you know, governments. And we said earlier, 15 prime ministers, she's met every single one, she's been to the opening of parliament. I mean, it was only this year that she started missing events. And it is just hard to imagine. It's like, as I'm saying these words, it's hard to actually connect this idea that she's no longer with us. She's been a part of our lives for my entire life. You know, I worked at Buckingham Palace as we've said before. Do you think in what capacity, I have to... Oh, you know, I'm a student and I need a job capacity, selling tickets and selling fudge in the gift shop. But every single person that came through was like, hi, I'm here to see the Queen, I'd like to see it at three o'clock. The Queen, as you said, it's not the royal family or Prince Charles or Camilla, it's the Queen. And I don't... And the power of this institution of the monarchy and of her as a person. Yeah, absolutely. And indeed, I mean, you see it like a television, so like The Crown, which is an international hit and which is continuing, just really sort of focused on her life. And of course, we live in a region where there are still monarchies here. That's right, we are real monarchs. That's a constitutional one. Real monarchs. Absolutely. And yet, she, as you before, even though she was a constitutional monarch, so many of the countries in Europe either have basically gotten rid of their royalty, they've downgraded them to fairly, let's say, minor figures. And yet, she still managed to embody, and not just herself, but a royal family in a quite expensive operation for the British public to underwrite. Expensive, but, and Natalie, correct me if I'm wrong, profit-making in the end for the British economy for exactly the reason that we talked about because you were selling the tickets, you're selling the goods. This came up at the time of some of the royal weddings over the last few years, Kalev, that as much money as is spent on the royal family, much more is earned because of them and because of their star power and their cultural attractiveness and because of what they mean and what they've done for British soft power in ways that go, of course, far beyond economics. But you're right, the monarch in the Netherlands or in Sweden or even in Spain for that matter doesn't have the standing of the monarch of the United Kingdom of Britain and part of it is because of the longevity of the institution that goes back 1,000 years. Part of it is because of the legacy of the British Empire and because of Britain's cultural and political impact in so many corners of the world. And yes, part of it was because of her. Part of it was because of her that she was this link to tradition. The way she dressed, the way she conducted herself seemed to be copied and pasted out of the 19th century and here we are into the 21st. By the way, I mentioned Kalev as one of the towering figures of the 20th century. Just shows how much longevity they had. We're down to the 22nd year of the 21st century, right? And she's not really a towering figure of the last century, but you could argue in a sense of the one we're living in. Of course. Okay, Owen Altman, thank you, Fed. Thank you for being with us. We're gonna go to, I mentioned before, Dubai correspondent, Bastion Burrian. We have to, of course, recall that Queen Elizabeth was also the queen of the Commonwealth. And of course, Bastion, several nations that included several nations here in this region, the United Arab Emirates until I believe 1970 or 71. So get this talk about the British influence there in the Gulf, not just, by the way, of course, of the Emirates. Well, the emotion here tonight is quite big because the UAE, as you said, this country is intimately linked to the United Kingdom, to the UK through history. First, since in 1971, Abu Dhabi freed itself from the British colonial yoke, but also and especially through trade caliph. That's why Prince William's visit here last February was widely covered. Prince William will one day succeed to his father, Charles, on the British throne. And during his visit, we saw Emirati leaders, police officials, economic authorities, executive and legislative powers. Most of the Emirati chess board came to meet Prince William and it may sound a little anecdotal, but the liner, the transatlantic Queen Elizabeth II, 300 meters long, the flagship of the British Navy that sailed the oceans until 2008 with the greatest of this world on board was given to Dubai a few years ago, which turned it into a floating hotel. So it could have gone to Canada or Australia, but no, this is the Emirates that the British trusted most. Right, and you know, one commonality, both with the Emirates and maybe some of these other Gulf nations with the UK is the fact, Bastion, that they're monarchies. A monarchy, not even a constitutional monarchy, but a monarchy in the sort of traditional sense and certainly the passing of a royal ruler has to perhaps resonate more deeply in that part of the world that it might elsewhere. Absolutely, you're right, Kalev. And this also explains why the two countries, both countries have strong economic ties between monarchies and the loss of an actor, a player, if you will, as important as the Queen can be, can crack the continuity of these relations as fruitful as they are. And same thing happened, the same risk happened when Sheikh Halifa bin Zayed died a few months ago. The UAE is the first economic partner of the United Kingdom in the Gulf. This is a special relationship between monarchies. 10 billion dollars of trade in total in 2021 in terms of goods and services. And this is without taking into consideration the income from tourism. The British are the third contingent of visitors here after the Indians and the Saudis, about 400,000 entries per year. And that's without counting either the income from bilateral investments, which we know are very numerous and in both directions. Besides, bilateral ties are also cultural and I would say educational. Many young emirates leave to study in London and end up settling there or come back here having adopted the British business culture but also the social codes, even the British accents. You can hear it very often in the mouth of emirates. All right, Bastian Burry, thank you for that from Dubai. Again, as I said before, there are no condolences coming in from world leaders across, including this evening Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, who writes Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II was known far and wide simply as the queen or passing as the end of an era together with the Israeli people. I grieve for her loss and extend my deepest sympathies to the British people and all nations of the Commonwealth who have lost a monarch, the queen embodied a spirit of integrity, duty and ancient tradition. My late mother and father had several audiences with the queen over the years, her fond welcome and warm hospitality left a profound impression down the generations and indeed we should know the Herzog family, Isaac Herzog's father served in the British Army. He was a member of the British Empire and his grandfather, of course, Senior Rabbinical Figure Chief Rabbi of Ireland at one time, so they have certainly their roots there with Britain. Joining us now back in the studio now with us is for the former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark Regev and now head of the Aba Ibans, another figure with ties to the British Aba Ibans center in Rechman University. Mark, let me ask you, we were talking before, of course, about the challenges now being faced by King Charles. You discussed your impressions as ambassador of Queen Elizabeth. What about the then Prince Charles, your impressions, your dealings with him? First of all, I don't think you're supposed to say yet King Charles. He hasn't been a coronation. I'm not sure what the title is, but I don't think we call him a king yet. There has to be some sort of official blow where he becomes officially the monarch of the United Kingdom. It's only a matter of time, but I don't think he gets the title quite immediately, to my understanding. So we'll see. I met him on a few occasions. I always found him to be the perfect gentleman. I found him to be very smart. I found him to be very witty. I found him to be very up on the news. And I traveled with him twice to Israel once for the funeral of Shimon Peres in 2016 where he represented the British government and the British state. And again, he came in January 2020. Remember, there was the ceremony to remember 75 years for the liberation, since the liberation of Auschwitz. And he was the senior British representative at that ceremony at Yad Vashem. A lot of people commented on that because again, the funeral of Shimon Peres, of course, you understand coming with the world leaders, but that seemed almost kind of exceptional, especially for a member of the British royal family coming for that. Well, it was right. And in both those visits, and I'll tell you another event, you recall that during my time in Britain, there was the whole issue of anti-Semitism was on the rise in Britain. Sure. And it was involved in some of the politics going on at the time. Prince Charles hosted at the palace an event for the British Jewish community. Now, as a royal, he doesn't get involved in politics. But for him, it was important to do an event to show respect for the contribution of British Jews to the United Kingdom. And I, whenever I thought for him, I thought it was very genuine, that he really did have a soft spot in his heart for the British Jewish community and for the Jewish state for Israel. And I think, I mean, he's not a young man anymore, he's over 70. But I think he's had a very long apprenticeship and he is ready to take the reins. I think he'll be a good king. He's had the experience. If he made a few mistakes in his childhood, we've all done that. And he's now ready to take the reins and I think he'll do them proud. I don't want to generalize about the British Jewish community, Natalie, because it's as varied as any other Jewish community. But many of the members that I've spoken to have kind of found this for the royal family, despite, of course, different issues with the British establishment, of course, over the years, we have to say. I mean, and every function that I went to as a child, by function, that's what I used to call them, but like bombets for his weddings, there was always the toast to the state of Israel and the toast to the Queen. And it was one of those sort of big things that was given out to a key friend or a key family member and everyone would stand. And if I'm not mistaken, we would sing God Save the Queen. And if we didn't sing it, we certainly said it. So that was like sort of instilled in us throughout my childhood. And I don't know anyone that didn't do that. I don't know anyone who was anti-establishment. It was only when I got to university that I met people who weren't pro-monarchy. You know, sort of like when I was growing up, it was just a thing, you were pro-monarchy. But I think you made a great point there that he's had a long apprenticeship, Prince Charles. And actually that might be his greatest asset at this point because he's had enough time to become distanced from the scandals of his youth. And when he does ascend the throne, it's as this sort of wise elder rather than this young man who, you know, perhaps married the wrong woman and was involved in some scandals. So that's kind of a good thing for him. And I think that we'll see changes in the monarchy, but they may not really come in until William takes over. So we could be looking at, in 20 years time, it will shift. I don't know, maybe Charles, Charles May, my feeling is he'll try to honor the memory of his mother who gave her life to the country in Commonwealth by potentially maybe keeping things the same whilst pushing the causes close to his heart such as the environment and climate change. Right, he has been outspoken on some. It's at the top of the hour. I just want to recap, of course, the news out of the UK. Queen Elizabeth II has passed away at age 96, according to a tweet from the Royal Family. Twitter feed shows you how times have changed. She did pass away this afternoon after an early announcement from Buckingham Palace that there was been deterioration in her health. Her family rushed to her bedside in Balmoral Castle in Scotland, including Prince Charles, who now, of course, inherits the throne of the United Kingdom. We are expecting a statement from Prime Minister Liz Truss. That's a live picture. We're looking at a 10-downing street. You can see that a podium has been set up there. And ironically, or have you phrased it, Liz Truss was received by Queen Elizabeth, I believe just two days ago. On Tuesday, maybe that was the last official, I guess, act of Queen Elizabeth. That was the 15th Prime Minister, beginning, of course, with Winston Churchill, way back when she ascended the throne at age 25 during 1952, 70-year reign. She was the longest living monarch in the world, the longest reigning British monarch ever. And the second longest reigning monarch in all of human history gives you some idea of the... MUSIC NEWS24 is a Spanish-language weekly news magazine on I-24 News, presented by respected journalists Carlos Grovich and Damien Pachter, bringing you news and analysis of the most important issues of the Middle East and Israel, with the added perspective of the impact on the Spanish-speaking world. NEWS24, only on I-24 News. MUSIC Strictly security, your weekly look into security, intelligence, and strategic affairs. Our team brings the latest on the major international conflicts, analysis of the major security issues right here in the Middle East and around the globe. Saturdays, only on I-24 News. Welcome to Tel Aviv. Feel the pulse of the world's most vibrant and diverse city. TLV2Go's boutique apartments extend a warm welcome. Stay in one of our architecturally designed, fully furnished apartments, which include everything you need to feel at home and much more. Will you go to the beach? Or do you prefer the pool, shopping at the market? Or would you rather order in? These boutique apartments are right at the heart of the city. Whether you're coming for a week, a month, or relocation, come to TLV2Go's incredible apartments. Made For Me, a unique concept in Israel. Custom made men's fashion to your measurements. Made For Me, designer of all your events. Schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il. Made For Me, official dresser of I-24 News. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Of course, breaking news out of the UK. Queen Elizabeth II has died at age 96. She passed away at Scotland's Balmoral Castle. Apparently earlier this afternoon, her family rushed to her bedside in her final moments. We do expect a statement in the coming moments from the new British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who just on Tuesday, just two days ago, was got her first official audience with the Queen. It was held at Balmoral Castle. We're seeing life pictures there from 10 Downing Street, of course, with the podium. We expect Liz Truss. Mark, before we went out for the break, would ask you about Liz Truss, the challenges she faces now as the coming in as a new Prime Minister and now has to now rise to the occasion at this moment, just on her second day in office. I would think, and if one wants to do political analysis and take a step back and not deal with the enormity of the passing of Queen Elizabeth. I think this is a good thing. I'm sure Boris is very, I'm not sure if Jealous is the right word, but to receive all the world leaders, it's a major, major event. And I think far from this being a challenge to Liz Truss, this is actually an opportunity for her to meet world leaders, to present herself on the world stage. I think this is actually, and people stop talking about the high prices of energy and what's gonna happen in winter, because everyone's, I don't think this is bad for the new Prime Minister. This can help her find her feet. Also, it's a chance for her to meet all her colleagues because you'll have leaders from across the world, from Africa, from Asia, from North America, they'll all be descending on London for the funeral and she'll be meeting those who she deems to meet. If President Biden chooses to come, she'll have a meeting with him, I'm sure. This is going to be a funeral, which will be a historic funeral, recognizing the life of a historic woman. There's both of us are old enough to remember. There used to be a TV series on the BBC called Yes, Prime Minister. Not sure, of course. And there was an episode once of the Working Funeral where leaders come and assemble at some point because someone has passed away and actually you can get a lot of diplomatic work done at that sort of event because it's like going to the UN General Assembly, you'll have leaders from across the world who will come to respect, pay their respects to the monarch but at the same time, if you're meeting there and the President of France is there or the Prime Minister of Italy or the Chancellor of Germany, it's a chance to meet and talk and do some business. And of course, one of the leaders, of course, will be the President of France Emmanuel Macron who was just tweeted. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, embodied the British nation's continuity and unity for over 70 years. I remember as a friend of France, a kind hearted queen who has left a lasting impression on her country and her century. And Natalie, of course, Mark talked about this funeral of Queen Elizabeth on the official level, on the political level but for the British people. The funeral, I guess you have to go back to Princess Diana's funeral. We reminded, of course, of her passing because it was the anniversary a few days ago but this will even more talk about the impact on the British people, on the British public and not just beyond in the Commonwealth and the world of this is going to happen. It will be a momentous occasion. It will be a day of mourning but it will be, as you say, across the globe in all the territories of the Commonwealth. I would imagine it would be a day of mourning out of respect. I just was thinking as we were talking there that just last year when Prince Philip passed away, I remember coming here to analyze the funeral and of course the queen herself had been sitting alone because of social distancing rules. She was this kind of lonely morning figure wearing black, not even able to sit with her son and it was so sad as she was so stoic and that was a very beautiful funeral, if you can say that about funerals. It was sort of incredibly well choreographed and put together and there was blue sky and it was a fantastic day in terms of honoring his memory but I think her funeral is going to be... I'm going to cut you off there, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is about to speak. Let's take a listen into what she has to say. We are all devastated by the news that we have just heard from Balmoral. The death of Her Majesty the Queen is a huge shock to the nation and to the world. Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which modern Britain was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign. Britain is the great country it is today because of her. She ascended the throne just after the Second World War. She championed the development of the Commonwealth from a small group of seven countries to a family of 56 nations spanning every continent of the world. We are now a modern, thriving, dynamic nation. Through thick and thin, Queen Elizabeth II provided us with the stability and the strength that we needed. She was the very spirit of Great Britain and that spirit will endure. She has been our longest ever reigning monarch. It's an extraordinary achievement to have presided with such dignity and grace for 70 years. Her life of service stretched beyond most of our living memories. In return, she was loved and admired by the people in the United Kingdom and all around the world. She has been a personal inspiration to me and to many Britons. Her devotion to duty is an example to us all. Earlier this week, at 96, she remained determined to carry out her duties as she appointed me as her 15th Prime Minister. Throughout her life, she's visited more than 100 countries and she has touched the lives of millions around the world. In the difficult days ahead, we will come together with our friends across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and the world to celebrate her extraordinary lifetime of service. It is a day of great loss, but Queen Elizabeth II leaves a great legacy. Today, the crown passes as it has done for more than a thousand years to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty, King Charles III. With the King's family, we mourn the loss of his mother and as we mourn, we must come together as a people to support him, to help him bear the awesome responsibility that he now carries for us all. We offer him our loyalty and devotion just as his mother devoted so much to so many for so long. And with the passing of the second Elizabethan Age, we usher in a new era in the magnificent history of our great country. Exactly as Her Majesty would have wished. By saying the words, God save the king. And that was, of course, Prime Minister Liz Truss of the United Kingdom who unbelievably now, just two days ago, was received into office by Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle, the last official duty undertaken by Queen Elizabeth. And now here, just two days later, of course, she's coming out of number 10 Downing Street to, of course, react to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II at age 96. Let's see if we can go to our senior UK correspondent, Jonathan Sachidori in London. Jonathan, what a moment for Liz Truss. What a week. First, your reaction to what you just heard and did she rise to the moment? This that has really just fallen on her shoulders. And what a moment for the new Prime Minister within the first few days of being in office to have to announce this to the nation. Obviously, when people heard this morning about the Queen's ill health and that doctors said that she was under supervision, I think there was a lot of rumour going round that this could be the end. And then, of course, as the family all flew in to be around her at Balmoral, those suspicions increased. Then, of course, it was confirmed. And now we see that official speech from the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss. She said, And that's going to be something that will take some getting used to hearing and saying because Queen Elizabeth was the longest-draining monarch, somebody who was Queen for so long that there are very few people who were alive before that period, even fewer who can remember it. And King Charles, as he now is, will have to follow on in her mould, but, of course, doing things his way as well. She set a shining example, not just to him, but to the whole of Great Britain, an example of duty over personal desires and personal and private life. And I think that that's something that she was enormously respected for around the world. Right. In fact, King Charles III, as you rightly call him, has just put out a statement. Jonathan, just stay with us. I'm going to read it out. The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty the Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family. We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother. I knew her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the realms in the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be confident and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held. And Jonathan knows, you know, British history knew of the two previous King Charles's, King Charles II, very successful King Charles, the first, not so much, let's say. King Charles III enters the monarchy at a very difficult time for the royal family, a time of scandal, a time when people were questioning whether Britain needs to at least continue with the monarchy as it's constituted, and all eyes will be on him, whether he is going to sustain it as his mother did. Absolutely. There will be a lot of pressure on King Charles's shoulders now over how exactly he's going to sustain it over how exactly he will be the monarch. I think it goes without saying that because Queen Elizabeth II was in power for so long as Queen, we only really know the monarch as one thing, and that is her. And now we're going to see how Prince Charles does things. There's been plenty of speculation over the years and some indication from him himself over how he'll do things. There's been the suggestion that he will strip down the royal family to a much smaller, more efficient, more hardworking family. A lot of that already happened during recent years. His influence, for example, was seen during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations with the slimmed-down working royals only on that balcony, a sign perhaps of things to come under King Charles's reign. And he may feel that he needs to do that in the 21st century. It might be something that the royal family feels is necessary, that this may be seen as an anachronism by many around the world and even in the UK, and that's one way of dealing with it. Also one way of dealing with the controversy that has plagued the family in recent years by cutting down the number of people in the family who are seen as close to the top and as working royals. If they get involved in any controversy, then it's perhaps less damaging to the institution of the monarchy. These are all decisions to come, but for now I think it's a question of mourning and Prince Charles, or King Charles as he now is, and the rest of Great Britain will spend quite some time in that mourning remembering Queen Elizabeth II. All right, Jonathan Schatzidori, thank you for that. Of course, we'll be coming back to you in this special coverage, but I wanna ask you Natalie, do points that Jonathan raised. A lot of people are wondering now with the passing of Queen Elizabeth who really held this institution together, who embodied it, whether now there might, this may be the time, opportunity, or inevitability that it will have to change. Well, absolutely, it will change in some way because we're gonna have a very, very different person at the helm, you know. As we said, we've gone from this woman who has sort of weathered every storm we can imagine going back to just an era that none of us can remember. And now Prince Charles is a more modern man. He has many causes that he's been championing throughout his life. The Prince's Trust is a youth organization where lots of young people go and do, they learn life skills, they learn survival skills, he champions climate change. I feel like he is more political in his leanings, even though they're not allowed to have political opinions, but he has these causes that he champions. So we'll see what that means. Will it be that he decides that Monarchy will be more outspoken? Will he be more outspoken as king? Or will he sort of hold his tongue as the Queen always did and be the figurehead? You know, I'm envisaging him in the ceremonial robes and the crown literally on his head, it's gonna be a sight to behold when it's all Prince Charles. Yeah, it's gonna be a different sight. And Jonathan at one point called the Prince Charles and then corrected the King Charles, it's going to be a transition. And to have the slimming down though, the Monarchy, I'm not so sure about that. It perhaps has been slimmed down somewhat already, but I don't see him going around and taking titles from grandchildren of the Queen and things like that, but yeah, we'll see what happens. Maybe a generation's to come. Mark, there are some in Israel who think maybe a monarchy should be restored to the Jewish, the third Jewish Commonwealth, there's some people wanna quote that. But I wanna ask you as the Israeli ambassador, how you just felt, for example, in the presence or dealing on those functions when you had to represent Israel before Queen Elizabeth or the royal family and what that felt with, and of course, you were raised in a Commonwealth nation, we should note, just on a personal level, how you felt about that. So you're right, I was born and grew up in Melbourne, Australia and the picture of Queen Elizabeth was on the wall in the school and on the coins that we used and on the postage stamps. She was a bigy to it, so she was there. Did you ever dream you'd be an ambassador to the Court of State, James? No, no, no, not at all. I remember when I presented my credentials, you go to the palace and it's quite a ceremony. They don't want you to make a mistake and so you actually do it with one of the other workers there and you go through it, it's like in the Army when we do things you do before you use live ammunition, you first use without shooting live ammunition, so before you present your credentials to the Queen, they want you to go through the motions, do exactly what you're supposed to do so you won't make a mistake when you actually meet the Queen. I always thought, look, she was very impressive. She was the consummate professional, as Natalie said. She took her role very seriously, a sense of duty and you saw the way, I would see her in lines and there would like maybe 180 ambassadors and everyone, she stops and she shakes her hands and how are you? Right, and I should note, Mark, right to the very end, she never let up her, she never lowered her standard even to the age of 96, even as we saw it to the final days of her life, though she had to cut back, of course. She had to cut back and I remember there were a few words and I don't know what Natalie will say about this, but were there a few words of saying when she couldn't do the job in a full way, there were those people saying like in Japan, maybe it's time for her to voluntarily step down but that's very un-British. She had this sense of duty that she had to persevere on even when it became more difficult for her to do the job. Look, it's history. What we've seen, think of it, in 1952, when she assumes the monarchy, Britain is still a major colonial power. Huge parts of Africa are still British, parts of Asia. And just five years after this country, this land was under British rule. But by 52, Israel's independent, we fought for our independence, so we're sitting with the India is independent. The British empire is beginning to fall apart but it was still there in the early 50s and Churchill represented this traditional British attitude and it's changed over the years and Britain is a different Britain and the monarchy, as Natalie said, the monarchy will be changing too. I would be very, I mean, he's not asked me for my advice and it's not my job to give it. But if Charles is overly involved in politics, he can hurt the monarchy because one of the advantages that Queen Elizabeth showed by not being involved in politics at all that she could be a figure of unity that everyone could embrace. The minute the monarch oversteps that role, I believe they can do immense danger to the monarchy and they have to think very carefully before getting involved in political issues because they might find a few people agree with them but they also might find a few people don't. And that can be very dangerous. That would be a breaking tradition that could be very, I think, dangerous for the institution. Right, I'm just gonna call, speaking of an institution, the Israeli presidency, which is, of course, you could, one could argue that we have a ceremonial presidency, Isaac Herzog, which we quoted too, and represents some way Israel's equivalent to have some kind of, I won't say monarch but have some kind of a ceremonial head. I mean, what about that, Natalie? There was speculation, there's been speculation about the relationship between the now King Charles and Queen Elizabeth and whether there were tensions between them because he seemed to be more willing to be outspoken on some of the issues you discussed and the environment and others. And others that made it to the press where people were quoted close to him which many people speculated was him. Yeah, but I feel like his overriding sort of mission has been to support his mother, certainly recently taking on some of her duties and sort of stepping up his games, so to speak. I mean, I guess there would have been some tensions, as I said earlier, from years gone by with the sort of dissolvement of his marriage to Princess Diana and then the whole kind of, there was this famous Annus Horribilis that the Queen said in her Christmas message. I was just thinking as you were speaking that this has really been another Annus Horribilis for the royal family. So many things have gone wrong and we're only sort of in the ninth month of the year. But if we go back and sort of start the year from this time last year, so much has gone wrong but it feels to me in a way that the Queen sort of held on, handed over to a new prime minister. They often say when people are ill or passing that they kind of still have stuff they want to get done and they'll hold on. And in a way it feels sort of symbolic to me that she handed over, changed the guards, so to speak, of the prime minister and has now passed. And I'm not saying it's the right time, there's never a right time. But that she hung on to make that the final. A job done, which fits with her service ethos. Yeah. Let me, we haven't mentioned the figure speaking of all the changes and scandals. Someone else has a new title this evening, Camilla, the former Camilla Parker Balls now, the Queen consort. Is her title, is the British public, you think, ready to accept her as the Queen consort? That's a very good question. And it's something that I don't know a clicker answer to because I think there's a sort of fascination. Let's see how she steps up to that. There's not as much of a fascination with her as there is, of course, with sort of Kate and Meghan. She's not seen as a sort of glamorous person. People aren't obsessed with her every move. But she has been married to Charles now for quite some time. And I think she's also been in training in the way that he's been in training. And she hasn't put a foot wrong for a very long time. She always looks fabulous at public events and does the right thing. Very careful about what she says, which is certainly the ethos of the Queen. Very careful about what she says. She's somebody I have actually personally met and shaken hands with. And she was very, very charming and very supportive of Prince Charles and of the two sons, Harry and William. And I think she'll be an asset. I mean, you know, the past is the past and we're going to have to move on and sort of try to accept her in her role as Queen consort and not constantly go back in time. Can I offer a opinion here? Is it possible that some of the material that's been out there in popular culture like the famous television series, whether it's sort of understanding more of Charles's relationship with her and there'll be more understanding of her that there was a, I mean, I don't know, but we're all going on what we understand to be reality. But if there was love there and it couldn't have been because of the certain circumstances that there'll be more an acceptance of Camilla than we would have seen that say 10 years ago. Yeah, again, I think the fact that the Queen held on until 96 has definitely helped out Camilla for sure. I'll answer that question because I watched the crown and yes, my opinion of Camilla has changed from watching that series, even though we don't know how much of it is fiction and how much is accurate. Natalie Blenford, Ambassador Mark Regev, thank you for joining us. And of course, this has been a special broadcast. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth has passed away at age 96, like pictures there of the crowds of Buckingham Palace raining, of course. And of course, King Charles III now ascended to the British throne. As they say, the Queen is dead, long live the King. Thank you for joining us on I-24 News. If you could travel to the Middle East right now without packing and without a plane ticket, would you? We are in Tel Aviv, Israel. Welcome to I-24 News Digital. Here, we bring Israel and the entire Middle East right to your social networks, on your phone, on your desktop. Here, I-24 News creates videos especially made for social media. And believe me, we are out there working hard. Right here. Israel and Nepal. For the very first time. Is how they begin, making original content, streaming live, even in the hard moments. There are literally rockets flying off in a bomb shelter. And filming docu-series. With us, you will find all the big stories you missed on television. So join I-24 News on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and discover the Middle East with us. Edge and being able to see into the future. Shaping tomorrow. Israel business beat. Sundays and Wednesdays, 9.30 p.m. GMT. News edition, sad news out of the UK this hour. Queen Elizabeth II has died, setting off an outpouring of grief for the 96-years-old monarch after a reign of 70 years. The queen has died at Balmoral Castle with many of her four children, eight grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren at the castle or on their way, including her son, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne. Backingham Palace has just released the following statement, reading, the queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The king and the queen consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow. For more on this breaking news, I'm joined in studio by Tom Gross, British political commentator. Very saddening news for the kingdom. Your initial thoughts. Well, yes, even though it is in a way not a surprise because she is 96-years-old and her health has not been particularly good in recent months. She had COVID in February and has been very tired since then. Nevertheless, it is a big shock because only two days ago on Tuesday, she met with the new British prime minister, Liz Truss, and a photo was released of her appointing Liz Truss, her 15th prime minister of her 70-year reign. And the queen looked relaxed and smiling and everyone was quite happy to see the queen in good health and looking happy and beaming with a smile really just two days ago. So it is very, it comes as a surprise even though of course it's not a surprise. Another fact is that for almost everybody living in Britain, she has been a dominant fixture of her entire lives. You know, even she's been in throne, the second longest head of state or monarch in history, only Louis XIV of France served for 72 years, that he came to the throne as a small child. Queen Elizabeth II was of course already known as a princess Elizabeth before she was queen. So unless you're aged older than 96, she has been there throughout everyone's life and therefore this really does mark the end of an era, the end in a way of the entire post-war pre-tech era, what might call it. I want to bring in to the conversation Adam Schwartz, a writer and political commentator is joining us from London. Good to have you with us on this evening. I want to hear your thoughts about the legacy of the queen. How will she be remembered from this day onwards? Well, I think this is certainly one of the most somber days and really the history of the modern United Kingdom. I think certainly the way the queen Elizabeth will be remembered will be as the constant presence through a process of enormous change. The queen of course, Harain was over 70 years long and during that period really oversaw a huge amount of change not only within the United Kingdom but also from the world itself. But if you look at it, certainly in the United Kingdom context, we saw the rebuilding after the destruction of the Second World War. We saw the sort of end of the British Empire and the emergence of the Commonwealth. We saw the UK joining the sort of European nations that ultimately became the European Union. And of course we saw the UK withdrawing from the European Union. And then very recently, we of course we saw the queen during COVID times. I think that certainly provided a huge amount of conflict to the nation. Knowing that in this very difficult and sort of traumatic period, actually the queen was there as a presence to sort of guide the nation. So I think certainly that's the way that she will be remembered in the United Kingdom context. But I think also it's important to remember her sort of as a global icon itself, even though the UK's sort of constitution provided a role to the queen advising its prime ministers. Actually, she provided a huge amount of advice and guidance to a whole bunch of foreign leaders abroad during her many state visits to many countries. So I think certainly both in the UK and across the world she'll be remembered really as a great source of strength, a great source of continuity during a period of great change within the world. Tom, I wanna go back to you. I wanna speak a little bit about her unifying power because she was able to unify not just Britain, England, with Wales, but also the Commonwealth as a whole during her term in office. Talk to us a little bit about that. That's right, of course. She oversaw basically the end of the British Empire, but the connection of many of those former states of the Empire now in the British Commonwealth. And in fact, until today, she is still head or until this morning, she was head of 15 countries, not a head of state of 15 countries, not just of the United Kingdom. For example, in Canada, she visited Canada 22 times. So she'll be mourned not just in Britain, but in all those other countries which she's head of state or the countries where she visited often and they're very fond of her like Australia and so on. There's something else. People sometimes ask me, why is there so much pomp and ceremony around the circumstance around the Queen? For example, the Dutch, Holland, they still have a monarchy, but their Queen sort of just rides around on a bicycle and so on, whereas the British Queen has many castles and the crown and so on. And I would say that one reason Britain has never had a revolution, it's never had communism or fascism or too much turmoil is the monarchy and in particular the Queen has provided an amazing stable factor of stability. So even though someone like myself, I'm actually a Republican and I'm actually not sure that Britain should have a monarchy, a monarchy as head of state, I still recognize that the Queen, I don't know what the alternative would be. The Queen is not a career politician like heads of states in many other democracies and she has provided this kind of constant, this kind of mother of the nation, both as an institution but also she in particular, her particular character has managed to do that and we shouldn't underestimate that level of stability. It is the United Kingdom, that's the official name of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It's literally united around the Queen and now the King because Charles, her son has become Charles III just now in the last hour or two, he is upon the announcement of his mother's death, he has immediately exceeded to the throne. Of course, he's over 70 already, so it's very unlikely his reign will be nearly as long as his mother's and he is not quite as popular as his mother but nevertheless, he'll probably be a good king. I will certainly touch on that. Adam, back to you, your thoughts on the Queen's unifying power. Well, I think she had a very specific role within the UK's constitution and that is really to sit between sort of where formal power is held and where ceremonial power is held and I think really she did that in a very particular way that really reflected the way that she was brought up and particularly the experiences that she had as a very young child in dealing with King Edward who was her uncle who really had a very sort of tumultuous period in his brief period of rule due to what was seen as sort of political involvement. So I think really from that time, we saw Queen Elizabeth have a very certain view about the way that she was going to rule over the United Kingdom. I think really because of that, she's had a very conscious awareness of not trying to overstep into where sort of formal power should be held by democratically elected politicians. And I think really she has sort of managed that and those around her have managed that very, very carefully. If you look at the fact that the Queen had weekly meetings with the Prime Minister, really none of those sort of details of the conversations that took place were really ever leaked and I think that sort of reflects the respect that people had for that specific role that she had into using her experience and using her wisdom to sort of guide Prime Ministers but in a way that wasn't sort of seen as too politically involved. Adam Schwartz, writer and political commentator joining us from London. Thank you so much for your insight this evening. Still with me is Tom Gross. We have just one minute before the break, we'll get more deeply into other issues later like the role of monarchy, the legacy that the Queen will live behind a lot, all of that and a lot more right after the break. We'll also tell you about a terror attack that was thwarted in Tel Aviv just a couple of hours ago will be back in just two minutes. Stay tuned. This is I, 24 News.