Prince Harry’s was today urged to reconsider holding an online event to promote Spare, featuring a “toxic trauma” doctor who has compared Hamas to the Jewish heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis and once branded Israel’s government terrorists.
Gabor Maté, 79, who also defended Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli civilians, will join the Duke of Sussex on Saturday for an “intimate” virtual conference worth £17 a head to discuss “living with loss and the importance of personal… Healing” to discuss. followed by a live Q&A.
Harry’s memoir is marked by the tragic and sudden death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
The Hungarian-Canadian doctor has his own harrowing story that has shaped his career. He was born in 1944 in Nazi-occupied Budapest. When he was five months old, his maternal grandparents were among the Jews murdered in Auschwitz. He was taken from his mother and hidden with an aunt until the end of the war.
Maté will meet Harry tomorrow for a virtual chat – but it’s not clear if Harry is aware of some of the controversy – and hurt – that Dr. Maté caused some of his words, particularly on Israel and Palestine. He also recently defended Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters and former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn against allegations of anti-Semitism.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York told the Jewish Chronicle: “Whoever arranged for this person to appear with Prince Harry did him a disservice. If Prince Harry was aware of this man’s record and still chose him for the interview, our center would criticize the prince for such an inappropriate choice.
The live stream costs £17 and comes with a free hardback copy of the Duke’s memoirs
The 79-year-old will join Harry (pictured with Stephen Colbert, who is promoting Spare) on Saturday to discuss “living with loss and the importance of personal healing” followed by a live Q&A
Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York told the Jewish Chronicle, “Whoever arranged for this person to appear with Prince Harry did him a disservice.”
Web has reached out to a representative of Prince Harry for comment, asking if the event is still happening and if Harry was aware of the controversies surrounding Gabor Maté before the event was organised.
It is not yet clear who Harry and Dr. Maté brought together and whether they’ve spent any time together in the past.
There is some speculation that Meghan may know him as he has ties to Toronto and she lived there while filming Suits.
It could be the editors of Spare or one of the Sussex teams who contacted them.
Archewell’s executive director is Brit James Holt, one of Prince Harry’s longest-serving team members, who has led communications for the Royal Foundation since October 2017, when it was run by Harry alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Mr Holt, who previously worked for the Liberal Democrats, has also acted as UK spokesman for Harry and Meghan Markle and took on the role of executive director of the Archewell Foundation in March 2020. He now lives in LA.
There’s also Mandana Dayani, who hired Harry and Meghan as their tech and media manager in June 2021.
There’s also Ashley Momtaheni, one of the Sussexes’ most recent additions. She joined last May as executive vice president of global communications.
In 2021, Gabor Maté said in an online event that Hamas was “nothing compared to the Israeli government’s terrorism,” and accused Israel of wanting to take all of “Biblical Palestine” across the Jordan.
He also appeared on a podcast with leftist comedian Russell Brand and said of Israel: “It’s the longest running ethnic cleansing operation of the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s still going on.’
He then described Gaza as “the largest open-air prison in the world.”
In another controversy, in the Toronto Star, he compared Hamas terrorists to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – the Jewish rebellion of 1943 in German-occupied Poland
dr Mate said in 2014: “The Palestinians use tunnels? So do my heroes, the poorly armed fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto.’
He defended the firing of rockets from Palestine at Israel, saying, “In impotent defiance, they fire inept rockets that inflict terror but rarely physical harm on innocent Israelis.”
He has spoken kindly to Pink Floyd star Roger Waters, who was recently labeled an “anti-Semite”. [his] rotten core’.
Gabor Maté also took part in discussions hosted by a far-left, pro-Kremlin blog and defended Jeremy Corbyn against allegations of anti-Semitism, according to The JC.
Gabor Maté has 20 years of experience working with people with addictions and mental illness, with other areas of specialization such as stress and child development. But it has since been revealed that he once raised concerns with authorities about using a “spiritual” psychedelic drug to treat patients.
Born in Budapest in 1944, his maternal grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz when he was five months old.
Trauma expert Gabor Maté with his wife Rae, whom he married in 1969
dr Maté is a Hungarian-Canadian bestselling author and physician specializing in addiction and child development
Tragically, as a baby, he was separated from his mother to save his life while his father was conscripted into forced labor by the Nazis.
The academic has described how he couldn’t look at his mother due to feelings of “abandonment, anger and desperation” when they were finally reunited as a toddler.
He says the trauma he suffered continues to impact his adult life, leading to an intense emotional response whenever he perceives impending abandonment, particularly from his wife.
He also believes this may have shaped his “addiction” to buying classical music.
“When I wrote about my hardcore drug-addicted clients, I could certainly see similar areas in myself and in their behavior,” he told Classical Voice in 2013.
“Working through the emotional dynamics and living with the emptiness that addiction is trying to fill has just helped me understand myself better.”
The author is an outspoken supporter of drug decriminalization and has used the Amazonian plant ayahuasca to treat patients suffering from mental illness.
The psychedelic plant, taken as a brew, causes hallucinations and other side effects, including vomiting.
Ayahuasca was traditionally used by shamans and traditional healers but is now popular with western tourists.
It remains illegal in the US, UK and Canada, and in 2011 Canadian officials threatened to call Dr. Arrest Maté if he doesn’t stop using the drug to treat his patients.
dr Maté regularly voices his opinions on a range of issues, and in 2021 he appeared in a podcast series by comedian Russell Brand, where he spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“They could never have created a Jewish state without oppressing and expelling the local population,” he said.
dr Maté called Gaza the “biggest open-air prison in the world” and said that “under these conditions people will naturally seek extremist leadership” – a reference to Hamas’ election victory in 2006.
“The mismatch of power and responsibility and oppression is so clear on the one hand that you multiply the worst that can be said about Hamas by a thousand times – and it still doesn’t get down to the Israeli oppression, the killing and the… dispossession meet the Palestinians,” he said.
He has published a number of books including In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Close Encounters With Addiction, When the Body Says No, The Cost of Hidden Stress, and Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder.
He has received the City of Vancouver Civic Merit Award and the Order of Canada for his work on addiction and other contributions to mental health.
Prince Harry’s decision to Dr. Choosing Maté to help popularize his memoir is another sign of his interest in therapeutic healing, having previously spoken about his experiences conducting therapy.
The event, organized in partnership with Harry’s publisher Penguin Random House, takes place on Saturday 4 March at 5pm UK time.
It comes at a fragile time for the Sussexes, whose popularity ratings have plummeted in the US since the release of Spare last month – and are now faced with deciding whether to attend Charles’ coronation.
Since last December, Harry’s popularity has dropped 48 points and Meghan’s has dropped 40 points, giving them net approval ratings of -10 and -17 respectively, according to a Redfield & Wilton poll for Newsweek.
While Andrew is still viewed negatively following his civil trial in New York against his sex accuser Virginia Roberts – whom he settled out of court – his net approval rating is -2, with 26 percent of Americans saying they like him, compared to 28 Percent who doesn’t.
New data out of the US shows the pair’s approval ratings plummeting over the past three months
The Sussexes’ skyrocketing popularity across the pond comes just days after they were satirized by South Park – a satirical cartoon famous for having its finger on the pulse of American culture.
Respondents were asked if they were positive or negative about Harry, Meghan and Andrew, with the results likely making sober reading for the couple.
About 32 percent were positive about Harry, compared to 27 percent for Meghan and 26 percent for Andrew.
However, 44 percent felt negative about Meghan, compared to 42 percent for Harry and just 28 percent for Andrew.
Harry’s conversation with Dr. Maté will be the prince’s first major appearance since his promotional blitz in January to promote Spare ahead of its release.
It comes as he and Meghan face a major decision over whether to attend King Charles’ coronation in May given the ongoing divisions between them and the rest of the family.
Harry previously demanded an apology from his brother Prince William and his father to him and his wife Meghan for the allegations he made in Spare.
These include claims that William insulted the Duchess before hitting Prince Harry so hard he landed on the floor.
The palace declined to comment at the time.
Sources suggest neither William nor King Charles are ready to apologize ahead of the coronation.
“There’s still a lot of resentment brewing in the family,” said one.
Save-the-date cards are due to be sent out in two weeks to the 2,000 guests chosen to attend the discounted spring ceremony.
The number of 8,251 attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was reduced to make the event more streamlined amid the cost of living crisis.
Formal invitations to those who have indicated their acceptance will not be sent out until three weeks before the actual event.
A well-placed source says Harry has made it clear he wants a private apology from Charles and William if he is to attend.
It’s unclear if Meghan will attend the ceremony if Harry chooses to, but as the date chosen for the coronation also falls on her son Archie’s fourth birthday, there are doubts she will be present regardless of the ongoing family feud .