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Early American Support for the Establishment of Israel

© Rick Francona

American support for the establishment of a Jewish national homeland began during the First World War. The impetus of that support was the Balfour Declaration, often cited by Jewish and Zionist organizations a “founding document” of the Jewish state. The declaration, made after negotiation and agreement between British officials and international Zionist organizations, commits the United Kingdom to the establishment of Jewish national homeland. It is but one of a series of conflicting agreements made by the British during the First World War. (The others were the Husayn-McMahon Correspondence and the Sykes-Picot Agreement.)

The text of the Balfour Declaration:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

View the actual declaration

The American role

After the agreement between Lord Rothschild (representing the Zionists) and British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour on the wording of the document, the British Cabinet sought American support for the declaration. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was reluctant to support the declaration for fear of angering the Ottoman leaders: the United States was not at war with Turkey, only with Turkey’s allies.

When international Zionist leaders learned of Wilson’s reluctance, they enlisted the help of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, an avowed Zionist and close friend of the president. Brandeis mobilized the American Zionist community to put pressure on Wilson. Within two weeks, Wilson reversed his position and supported the declaration. With the endorsement of the American president, the British cabinet approved the declaration. Wilson continued to express his support of the declaration for the remainder of his second term (to January 1921).

Following the end of the First World War, the United States supported the award of the mandate for Palestine to Great Britain. An American government commission created by President Wilson advised the president to discourage Great Britain from executing its plans to establish a Jewish homeland because the plans did not fully consider the rights and aspirations of the majority Arab population. Wilson, who had fallen ill and had all but withdrawn from the talks that determined the future of the region, ignored the report. Great Britain took over as the mandatory power in Palestine.