Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the nation's figurehead for seven decades, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.

"The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon," it said in a statement. "The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow."

Elizabeth's eldest son Charles, 73, automatically becomes king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His wife Camilla becomes Queen Consort.

Her family had rushed to be by her side at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, after doctors expressed concern about her health. She had been suffering from what Buckingham Palace has called "episodic mobility problems" since the end of last year, forcing her to withdraw from nearly all her public engagements.

Queen Elizabeth II, who was also the world's oldest and longest-serving head of state, came to the throne following the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952, when she was just 25.

She was crowned in June the following year. The first televised coronation was a foretaste of a new world in which the lives of the royals were to become increasingly scrutinised by the media.

"I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust," she said in a speech to her subjects on her coronation day.

Concerns over the health of the longest-reigning monarch in British history have snowballed lately, as Queen Elizabeth II was hospitalized for the first time since 2013 earlier this year with reasons as to why still unclear and on Thursday it was announced, several hours after it was reported that she would remain under medical supervision in Balmoral Castle and two days after appointing a new prime minister, that the longest-serving British monarch had died in Balmoral Castle, at 96.

In recent months, including just this week, she has shown deteriorating health despite maintaining her duties. Her Majesty's decision to skip a trip to Northern Ireland the same week and royal sources reporting she will be missing out on the upcoming UN climate change conference in Glasgow in the coming days as well. As we are reminded of the mortality of one of the most symbolic figures of the last century, let us take a fleeting look at the mark she left along the way.

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Daughter of Prince Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, a young Elizabeth originally had very little chance of aceding to the throne until Edward VIII, her uncle, naively made the decision to marry an American woman by the name of Wallis Simpson. This decision instigated a constitutional crisis, as Simpson, a well-known socialite from Baltimore, had already been married and divorced once before. This scandalous (at the time) affair led to the immediate abdication of the king, leaving Elizabeth's father, now King George VI, as head of state.

After becoming heir presumptive to the British throne, Elizabeth's life expectedly underwent significant changes. Her mother earnestly prioritized her education, with thorough instruction from governesses, Eton historians, and visiting teachers from all over in the fields of languages and the arts. At the age of 21, early in 1947, her betrothal to marry distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten was proclaimed and in November of that same year they married, furnishing Philip with the title of Duke of Edinburgh. The couple was to have four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

It was in February of 1952, however, after months of serious decline with the health of her father, that she would take up the role that would turn her into the epochal figure she's become today.

While it could be argued that her coronation, the first ever to be broadcast live on television, would set the tone for a lifetime of similarly groundbreaking occasions, it also marked the beginning of a post-war period of welfare, stability, and security that she steadfastly overlooked throughout her nearly 70 year rule. And while the monarchy may seem anachronistic in today's world, it is important to recognize the changes Elizabeth brought to a typically reactionary institution, and the global impact that often accompanied them.

From the get-go, the Queen's reign was constantly characterized by change. She had little time to take a breath after her inaugural ceremony before she set off on a six-month tour around the world with Prince Philip, an attempt to stabilize the recently assembled Commonwealth of Nations and ensure good relations with Her Majesty's former colonies. This set a trend that would become highly respected during her reign, leading her to become the most widely travelled head of state and effectively placating any potential acrimony leftover from colonial times amongst the regions.

On top of the decolonisation that would essentially come to represent Britain's foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century (bar Margaret Thatcher), Queen Elizabeth was responsible for appreciable change domestically as well, particularly with regards to the role of the monarchy in modern society. Accepting of the fact that it did not hold nearly as much power as it once did, the Queen embraced a monarchic role more akin to that of a motherly figure and was less stringent regarding many of the institution's traditional rules and customs. She was the first to allow the televising of the royal family's domestic life, in an attempt to assuage the nation in times of distress, and adopted a comparatively lax approach to matters such as the dissolution of her sister's marriage, which she condoned in 1978. During the early 1990s recession, she would even agree to pay taxes on her private income, albeit after significant criticism and protest from a hungry populace.

However, despite her extensive travels and appreciation of history, there is one party that is missing throughout the entirety of Her Majesty's reign; Israel. While the exact reasons are unknown, it is known that there was another member of the royal family that not only visited the Holy Land, but displayed a strong connection to the Jewish cause throughout his whole life. The Queen's husband Philip.

It is said that the late Duke of Edinburgh's conviction against anti-Semitism began as a young kid attending Gordonstoun School in Scotland, a German school he attended right at the peak of the National Socialist party's popularity. After recurrently witnessing anti-Semitic attacks, he harbored a sense of compassion for the Jewish people that would follow him to his death in 2021. A part of the British Royal Navy, the young lieutenant fought the Nazis in World War II and would continue to distance himself from them in the years to come, even banning his sisters, who had married Nazi officers, from his wedding to the Queen in 1947. His support would not be exemplified fully until 1994, however, when Prince Philip became the first royal family member to visit Israel and ended a de facto boycott of the state by the British monarchy.

It is in the context of these events that we ought all to view the 96-year-old monarch and, while not necessarily championing her, must recognize her significance in shaping the world as we know it today.

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Israelis aged 60 and over arrived at medical clinics across the country to receive their coronavirus vaccine as the so-called "coronavirus cabinet" convened to discuss the reimposition of a number of restrictions on movement, Monday.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has ordered the establishment of 12 vaccination centers to serve members of all of Israel's healthcare providers in the cities of Kiryat Gat, Karmiel, Eilt, Beit Shemesh, Dimona, Arad, Safed, Kiryat Shmona, Shefaram, Sderot, and Umm al-Fahm.

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According to Edelstein, tens of thousands of healthcare workers were inoculated on Sunday, and around 200,000 Israelis had made appointments to receive the vaccine.

On Monday, the coronavirus cabinet convened to discuss the reimposition of a number of restrictions following an increase in the spread of the virus. Israel confirmed 2,846 new cases of the coronavirus among the 70,989 people who tested for the virus, Sunday, for an infection rate of 4.1%. Israel currently has 25,159 active cases, 470 of which are serious. Of those in serious condition, 112 are on ventilators. So far, 3,109 people have died.

Among the restrictions to be discussed, a ban on foreign nationals entering Israel and ordering Israelis returning from overseas into mandatory quarantine.

The Health Ministry has ordered genetic sequencing of Israelis returning from Britain and other countries and those in quarantine found to be carrying the virus in order ascertain whether they are carrying a new mutated strain discovered in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had called Monday's meeting "for one purpose and that is to close the skies. Since last night's meeting, the mutation has been spreading in many countries and it is clear to us that we are at the beginning of a very rapid spread" of the disease.

Following a six-hour meeting of the cabinet on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials were weighing a general lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. He said a new, mutated strain of the virus discovered in Britain would impact the cabinet's next steps.

Health Ministry Director Hezy Levi said he did not believe the strain was more dangerous and that it would respond to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

"In South East England, a virus with a different structure that has undergone a number of mutations was discovered, and it's worrying. This virus has been found to be 60-70% more contagious than the one known to us, but it is not more violent. The disease is the same disease with the same process with the same non-violent course of action compared to the virus we know."

Levy said the virus was not likely to be immune to the vaccine.

"A majority of scientists involved in researching the mutation say the virus will probably not be immune to a vaccine that contains some proteins that cause antibodies in the body of the person who is inoculated. The way things look now, the mutant virus will not be immune to vaccines," he said.

According to Levy, molecular lab tests carried out in Israel can identify the mutant strain because they check a few segments: "It has been said that the virus slips under the radar' and the PCR tests [that detect RNA specific to the COVID-19 virus] don't recognize it. In Israel, we examine a few segments and that's why that won't happen in the State of Israel, and the virus won't slip under the radar."

In the meantime, one day after the British government revealed a new strain had been discovered and declared a lockdown on London and other areas of South East London, the United Kingdom recorded a significant increase in the number of daily infections. On Sunday, the UK recorded 36,000 new cases, double the amount recorded just one week priod, and the highest number of new daily cases since the outbreak of the pandemic. British Health Minister Matt Hancock said the outbreak of the new strain was out of control and called on British citizens to behave as if they knew they had contracted the virus and enter into quarantine.

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According to Hancock, the lockdown could go on for months. The British government called on those residents of areas imposed by the lockdown not to leave their homes except for emergency purposes.  The lockdown in Wales has been tightened and Scotland and Northern Ireland were both set to see further restrictions following the Christmas holiday. The new strain of the virus was detected in tests carried out during the month of September and identified in October. Another mutated strain was identified in South Africa.

Following the announcement, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Australia, and Ireland announced a ban on incoming flights from Britain. France was set to join the European flight ban. The Spanish government asked the EU to consolidate a mandatory pan-European position on a UK flight ban.

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"I have no problem with legitimate criticism where it is due, but this obsession with Israel needs to be addressed. This singling out of the Jewish state is wrong, unjustified, and plays a role in the rise and rise of anti-Semitism," he said.

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"Whether it manifests itself in Monsey [New York] in the United States or just down the road in South Hampstead, it arises, as we have seen in the Labour Party, when there is a failure of leadership on the grandest scale," added Polak.

The baron also raised the question of the Palestinian Authority's terroristic practice of "pay to slay," making it clear that the government has an obligation to ensure that British taxpayer money go to those in need, as opposed to rewarding terrorists convicted of heinous crimes and their families.

"In 2018, the Palestinian Authority paid over £260 million [$338 million] – around 7% of its annual budget – on salaries to killers and murderers," said Polak.

Referring to the Netherlands' discontinuation of direct aid to the PA in November because of this terror reward policy, he urged, "We must pay our way, but not when our aid is used to pay for slay. We must find a method by which aid payments serve the recipients who need our support in Palestinian society, and at the same time, serve the interests of the British taxpayer."

Though these issues have been ongoing, Polak told Jewish News Syndicate that with a new British Parliament, now is the time to raise the issues they want and "set an agenda."

"My speech was a signal that this is a priority for the pro-Israel community," he said.

In the context of a rise of anti-Semitism and violence against Jews worldwide, Polak said that he will "again raise the issue of payment to Palestinian prisoners and continue to push."

In his speech, Polak took the opportunity to congratulate the government on its new legislation making it illegal for local councils to implement boycotts against Israel. "The promise by the government to legislate against BDS was a first and shows where the new government is at in relation to these sorts of issues," he told JNS.

He then rebuked the United Nations for fixating on the world's only Jewish state. "There was one resolution on North Korea, one on Syria, one on Iran and two on Russia. There were no resolutions on China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. But there were no less than 18 resolutions on Israel. That is totally unacceptable and, what is more, far too often the UK votes for these resolutions," he said in his speech.

Polak critiqued a resolution that was passed at the UN General Assembly on Dec. 13 called "Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem," saying, "suffice it for me to say that the resolution totally ignored terror attacks against Israeli civilians in Israel, referring to them as "tensions and violence."

It also negated deadly rocket and missile attacks by Palestinians on Israeli cities and towns over the years, and sought to strip Israel of its inherent right to self-defense by classifying every defensive measure as "a violation of international law."

In addition, he continued, "it referred to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem only by its Islamic name, Haram al-Sharif. What did we do? We voted for the resolution, whereas our allies and friends in Canada, Australia and the US had the courage to vote against it."

Polak concluded with a request that the United Kingdom look "very carefully" in the future before voting against Israel at the United Nations.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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