Family pride in Balfour Declaration: ‘I see it as a humanitarian gesture’

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Published: 9 October 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

“THE DIASPORA IS AS important for me as Israel in terms of having a home for the Jews, where they can go to if persecution arises again. I see it very much as a humanitarian gesture against the background of what was happening at the time.”

Balfour prefers not to comment in depth on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he has been criticised by right-wing Zionists for supporting a two-state solution. “Where I seem to get into trouble is when I remind people of the central tenet in the Balfour Declaration, which states: ‘It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.’
FULL STORY Lord Balfour discusses his great-uncle's declaration in 1917 (Jerusalem Post)

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