British Zionism

Support for Jewish Restoration in Britain

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British Support for Jewish Restoration

The Balfour declaration, offering Palestine to the Jews, was not issued in a
vacuum based only on perceived momentary war needs. It reflected a deep-
seated philosophical and religious movement for restoration of the Jews that had
become rooted in British culture in the 19th century. The Christian world had
long been inimical to Jewish settlement in the Holy Land. St. Eusebius had
decreed that God would therefore not let the Jews rebuild Jerusalem, a
proscription that entered European Christian culture as the Curse of Eusebius.
The pagan Roman Emperor Julian began the project of restoring the Jews to
Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. He fell in battle before the project could be
completed, and subsequent Christian emperors abandoned the project.
Christian mythology related that fires, manifesting divine displeasure, greeted
those who attempted to carry out Julian's plan. The Crusaders had expelled the
Jews from Palestine, and the idea of Jewish control of the Christian holy places
was certainly anathema to most Christians.

However, the rise of Protestantism and the enlightenment brought a new spirit
to Europe. Following publication of English versions of the bible and with the
rise of the Puritan faith, Hebraicism and restoration of the Jews became
increasingly popular. Puritans adopted names such as Amos and Obadia and
Isaiah and Isaac and even Habakkuk and Abednego. On the one hand,
Protestants in Britain and later those in the USA began to identify themselves
as the inheritors of the Israelites or the lost ten tribes. On the other hand,
support grew for restoration of the Jews as the rightful owners of "the Holy
Land." This movement was nourished by many sources, not all favorable to the
Jews. The theology of some branches of Protestantism posits that the second
coming of Christ would only come only after the Jews were reestablished in
their land, and were converted to Christianity. Anti-Semites believed that
establishment of a Jewish homeland would be a convenient way to rid Europe
of Jews. Imperialists hoped that a Jewish Palestine would be an excuse for a
British protectorate there, and might serve as a solution for the "Eastern
Question."

The idea of Jewish restoration was not alien to British culture. In 1621, the
British MP Sir Henry Finch wrote a book entitled "The World's Great
Restoration." He encouraged Jews to reassert their claim to the Holy Land,
writing, "Out of all the places of thy dispersion, East, West, North and South,
His purpose is to bring thee home again and to marry thee to Himself by faith
for evermore." There were others as well, mostly of the Puritan faith, who had
written similar books. However, after the suppression of Puritanism, the idea
remained dormant in Britain until the 19th century.

In 1799, Napoleon issued a proclamation promising to restore Palestine to the

Jews, as he was camped outside Acre. Though Napoleon was forced to
withdraw from Palestine, and soon rescinded his proclamation, the idea had
been planted and took root in British soil. The successive weakening of the
Ottoman Empire made it increasingly possible to believe that one day Palestine
might no longer be under Turkish rule, and that it could then be returned to the
Jews.

Concomitantly, the skepticism of the eighteenth century enlightenment gave way

to a religious revival, perhaps in reaction to the French revolution. An
evangelical version of Protestantism became popular in England at this time, as
it did soon after in the United States. In 1808, the London Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, familiarly called "The Jews Society," was founded,
and it soon became very popular. The zeal for conversion was based on the idea
that conversion of the Jews would bring about the Second Coming. Many of the
members also believed that restoration of the Jews to "Palestine" was necessary
for this purpose.

Somewhat later, about 1825, John Nelson Darby founded the Plymouth
Brethren, a religious sect with a distinct theology, dispensationalism, which
professed that the Jews would have to be returned to their ancient kingdom and
converted to Christianity before the rule of Christ on Earth. Dispensationalism
remained a minority view in Britain, but took hold in the Untied States.

For religious, or humanitarian or philosophical or imperialist motives, prominent

Britons learned Hebrew, wrote novels about restoration of the Jewish
commonwealth, began settlement and exploration societies and advocated
restoration of the Jews in public and in private. Among the advocates we may
include Lord Lindsay, Lord Shaftesbury Lord Palmerston, Disraeli, Lord
Manchester, George Eliot, Holman Hunt, Sir Charles Warren, Hall Caine and
others.

Lord Lindsay wrote:

The soil of "Palestine still enjoys her sabbaths, and only waits for the return of her
banished children, and the application of industry, commensurate with her agricultural
capabilities, to burst once more into universal luxuriance, and be all that she ever was
in the days of Solomon. ( Crawford, A.W.C. (Lord Lindsay), Letters on Egypt, Edom
and the Holy Land, London, H. Colburn 1847, V II, p 71).

Charles Henry Churchill, a British resident of Damascus, also became a zealous

propagator of the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. In 1841 he wrote a
letter to the Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore in which he stated: "...I
consider the object to be perfectly obtainable. But, two things are indispensably
necessary. Firstly, that the Jews will themselves take up the matter unanimously.
Secondly, that the European powers will aid them in their views..."

Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury was an Evangelical Christian, part

of the revival of Evangelical faith that swept Britain in the early 19th century.
Religious motives prompted him to initiate charity works and further social
legislation, including the ten hour day act. At the same time, he was keen for the
restoration of the Jews, and their conversion to Christianity.

Lord Shaftesbury was the most active restoration lobbyist. 'The inherent vitality,'
he wrote, 'of the Hebrew race reasserts itself with amazing persistence. Its
genius, to tell the truth, adapts itself more or less to all the currents of
civilization all over the world, nevertheless always emerging with distinctive
features and a gallant recovery of vigor."

Shaftesbury told his biographer, Edwin Hodder, that belief in the Second
Advent, "has always been a moving principle in my life, for I see everything
going on on in the world subordinate to this great even." Privately, he asked,
"Why do we not pray for it every time we hear a clock string?" Hodder stated
that since the return of the Jews was required for the Second Advent,
Shaftesbury "never had a shadow of a doubt that the Jews were to return to
their own land...It was his daily prayer, his daily hope. 'Oh pray for the peace of
Jerusalem!' were the words engraven on the ring he always wore on his right
hand.' (Tuchman, Bible and Sword p 178).

Lord Shaftesbury lobbied for the idea of return of the Jews with Prime Minister
Palmerston and his successors in the government and was incidentally
instrumental in the considerable assistance and protection against oppression
that Britain henceforth extended to the Jews already living in Palestine.

In 1839 the Church of Scotland sent Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray
M'Cheyne, to report on "the Condition of the Jews in their land." Their report
was widely publicized in Great Britain and it was followed by a "Memorandum to
Protestant Monarchs of Europe for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine."
This memorandum was printed verbatim in the London Times, including an
advertisement by Lord Shaftesbury igniting an enthusiastic campaign by the
Times for restoration of the Jews.
In August 1840 the Times reported that the British government was considering
Jewish restoration. It added that "a nobleman of the Opposition" (apparently
Lord Shaftesbury) was making inquiries to determine:

1. Jewish opinion of the proposed restoration.

2. Jewish readiness to live in Palestine and invest their capital in agriculture.

3. How soon they would be ready to go.

4. Whether they would pay for their own passage, given assurance of safety to
life and property.

5. Whether they would be willing to live under the Turkish rule, protected by
Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, Austro- Hungary.

Shaftesbury had indeed caused Palmerston, either prior to or following the

Times reprot, to write to the British Ambassador in Constantinople:

There exists at the present time among the Jews dispersed over Europe, a
strong notion that the time is approaching for their nation to return to
Palestine...It would be of manifest importance to the Sultan to encourage the
Jews to return and to settle in Palestine because the wealth which they would
bring with them would increase the resources of the Sultan's dominions; and
the Jewish people, if returning under the sanction and protection and at the
invitation of the Sultan, would be a check on any future evil designs of Mehmet
Ali or his successors... I have to instruct Your Excellency strongly to recommend
to hold out every just encouragement to the Jews of Europe to return to
Palestine. (Tuchman, Bible and Sword, 1988 p 175).

Religious motives had been transformed into motives of state, a theme that was
to be repeated in coming years.

In July of 1853, as the Crimean war loomed and the position of Turkey was
challenged by Mehmet Ali in Egypt, Shaftesbury wrote to Prime Minister
Aberdeen that Greater Syria was

“a country without a nation” in need of “a nation without a country… Is there

such a thing? To be sure there is, the ancient and rightful lords of the soil, the
Jews!” In his diary that year he wrote “these vast and fertile regions will soon be
without a ruler, without a known and acknowledged power to claim dominion.
The territory must be assigned to some one or other… There is a country
without a nation; and God now in his wisdom and mercy, directs us to a nation
without a country.” (Shaftsbury as cited in Garfinkle, Adam M., “On the Origin,
Meaning, Use and Abuse of a Phrase.” Middle Eastern Studies, London, Oct.
1991, vol. 27).

Thus was born the phrase that eventually became the Zionist slogan of "A land
without a people for a people without a land. At the time, there was no hint of
Arab nationalism, and the population of all of what might be considered
Palestine, including districts in lands that are now part of Transjordan Lebanon,
probably did not exceed 300,000.

Sir George Gawler, a hero of Waterloo, urged the restoration of the Jews as the
remedy for the desolation of Palestine. In 1848 he wrote, "I should be truly
rejoiced to see in Palestine a strong guard of Jews established in flourishing
agricultural settlements and ready to hold their own upon the mountains of
Israel against all aggressors. I can wish for nothing more glorious in this life
than to have my share in helping them do so." Gawler formed a Palestine
colonization fund to help the work of settlement.

In her novel, Daniel Deronda (1876), George Eliot advocated, "the restoration of
a Jewish state planted in the old ground as a center of a national feeling, a
source of dignifying protection, a special channel for special energies and an
added voice in the councils of the world."

The restoration movement fed off the nascent Jewish nationalist movement.
Colonel Churchill in Damascus was influenced by Montefiore, who had been
trying to secure a Jewish homeland in Palestine from the Mehmet Ali, the
Khedive of Egypt. Ali was not opposed, but he was deposed shortly thereafter.
George Eliot's Daniel Deronda reflected her thorough grounding in the work of
the Jewish historian Heinrich Graetz, who believed in national restoration of the
Jews in their own land.

F. Laurence Oliphant (1829-1888), MP and Evangelical Christian, was a

follower of Lord Shaftesbury. In 1880 Oliphant published a book entitled The
Land of Gilead, urging the British Parliament to assist the restoration of Jews to
Palestine from Russia and Eastern Europe, and advocating that Palestinian
Arabs be removed to reservations like those of the North American Indians.

The interest of Britain in Palestine expressed itself in the "capitulations" won

from the Turks, allowing them to place missions there and to found charitable
works such as hospitals, settlement colonies and exploratory surveys like those
of Conder. In fact, there were over a 1,000 British travelogues and surveys of
the Middle East in the 19th century. Such exploratory travels, as in the case of
famous explorers such as Burton and Livingston, usually preceded British
imperial involvement in a region. Toward the end of the nineteenth century,
British interest in the Middle East increased, because it was considered
essential to guard the route to India and to guarantee the stability of the Turkish
empire against Russian and other imperialist threats. Settlement of Jews in
Palestine was offered first as a way to bolster the faltering Turks and help
guarantee the security of the Suez canal. The idea which had seemed utopian
became a more or less respectable and acceptable project.

Bibliography

Christian Zionism

Crawford, A.W.C. (Lord Lindsay), Letters on Egypt, Edom and the Holy Land, London, H.
Colburn 1847, V II, p 71)

Gawler, George, Tranquillization of Syria and the East, London, T&W Boone, 1845.
Keith, Alexander, The Land of Israel, Edinburgh: W. Whyte, 1844.

Tuchman, Barbara, Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to
Balfour, Ballantine Books, 1988.

Ami Isseroff

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