Before Balfour: the Reformation helped to create the state of Israel

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Following the translation of the Bible into English, the 17th century witnessed an explosion of popular interest in the Hebrew scriptures.

The term "Israel" was thus detached from its rootedness in Jewish people and Jewish history and turned into a form of self-understanding. ... The church (of England) could describe itself as the "new Israel" and people on the rugby terraces could sing, without puzzlement, about building Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land. From the 17th century, English nationalism borrowed from the language of being the chosen people. ...

(Therefore) and despite frequent relapses into prejudice, Britain was especially well disposed towards the Jewish people. Hence the Balfour declaration.

(But) the Israel that David Lloyd George was won over to through Sunday school was a merger of Christian theological fantasy and British national self-aggrandisement.

Resonemanget är inte helt övertygande. Den romantiserade synen på judarna i Palestina fanns hos oss också, även om den inte låg till grund för någon nationell självhävdelse här. Men att en sådan idealiserad syn på judarna skulle vara grunden för Balfourdeklarationen är knappast övertygande. Man borde åtminstone överväga andra förklaringar till samma åtgärd, såsom Storbrittaniens politiska intressen som kolonialmakt.