Love us or hate us ? (part 5)

2. Lord Balfour

This man has been described as perhaps the most effective British friend the Jews have ever had.

I'm sure you've all heard of the Balfour Declaration, the piece of paper that gave official British recognition of the need for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Well, here is the man behind it.

His full name was Arthur James Balfour and he was British Prime Minister in 1902. He wasn't very good at it and was defeated in 1905, but bounced back when he became foreign secretary during the First World War. Politically, he had made many friends with influential Jews, such as Theodore Herzl, the first 'Zionist'. His most significant friendship, though, was with Chaim Weizmann, the Jewish chemist and Lenin look-alike.

When they met in 1914 Balfour stated that the Jewish question would remain insoluble until either the Jews here (in Britain) became entirely assimilated or there was a normal Jewish community in Palestine. As the First World War progressed Weizmann made himself invaluable to the British war effort through his discovery of a process to produce synthetic acetone, a chemical needed to make gunpowder.

His reward was the Balfour Declaration on behalf of his people. Lord Balfour had a religious upbringing though it is unclear what motivated his favourable attitude towards the Jews. What is certain is that he was unhappy with the persecution against the Jews saying "The treatment of the race has been a disgrace of Christendom" and viewed the establishment of a Jewish State as a way of making amends.

Although he didn't live long enough to witness the eventual birth of the State of Israel, his name is commemorated throughout the land in streets, a forest and a moshav.