A perhaps unexpected supporter of Lawrence’s plan turned out to be Benjamin Disraeli, who was deeply shocked by the British bloodlust that the Uprising had triggered: “I protest against meeting atrocities with atrocities,” he told the House of Commons. “I have seen things said, and seen written of late, which would make me suppose that…instead of b

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Lionel Rothschild, a great friend of Disraeli, who made history by financing Britain’s purchase of the Suez Canal in 1875. But it is Lionel’s son, Natty (1840-1915), described by Miriam as gruff, sentimental, and dapper, who ranks as one of the most brilliant financiers of all time. In the popular press he was considered the real ruler of England,

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At the beginning of 1911, the Jewish world and Ben-Gurion himself were scandalized by an article the Hebrew novelist Yosef Haim Brenner published in the newspaper Hapo’el Hatza’ir. The subject was Jews who had converted to Christianity.22 Brenner maintained that there was a Jewish national identity independent of religion and that this identity had

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After the Balfour Declaration, Ben-Gurion switched his allegiance from the Turks to the British. He joined the British Army’s Jewish Legion and fought with the British against the Turks in the Palestine Campaign. Though he continued working with Poalei Zion, he also launched his own political party, Achdut Ha’avoda (“Unity of Labor”), composed most

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