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"My Family Created Israel": The Rothschilds And Birth Of A Nation

For over a century, the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty that began in 18th-century Frankfurt, quietly helped lay the economic, political, and physical foundations of the state of Israel

"My Family Created Israel": The Rothschilds And Birth Of A Nation
Rothschilds quietly helped lay the economic, political, and physical foundations of the state of Israel
  • Lord Victor Rothschild spoke twice in British parliament, supporting milk pasteurisation and a Jewish homeland
  • The Rothschilds helped build Israel through land purchases and funding infrastructure in Ottoman Palestine
  • Baron Edmond de Rothschild funded agricultural colonies and Hebrew schools from the 1880s to 1920s
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New Delhi:

Lord Victor Rothschild spoke in the British parliament only twice. Once, to champion milk pasteurisation, a public health issue. The other, to throw his weight behind the creation of a Jewish homeland. Few families in modern history have wielded as much influence as the Rothschilds. In Israel, their fingerprints are embedded in the land itself.

"My family created Israel," his son, Lord Jacob Rothschild, once said. And he wasn't exaggerating.

For over a century, the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking dynasty that began in 18th-century Frankfurt, quietly helped lay the economic, political, and physical foundations of the state of Israel. Land purchases in Ottoman Palestine to the construction of Israel's Supreme Court, the Rothschilds shaped a nation before it had a name.

The story begins with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812), a coin dealer and banker who laid the foundations of Europe's most powerful financial family. His five sons fanned out across London, Paris, Vienna, Naples, and Frankfurt, forming a pan-European banking empire that would fund monarchies, infrastructure, and wars.

But it was in Palestine that the family carried out their most enduring social experiment.

Long before David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934) became its unsung architect. Between the 1880s and 1920s, Edmond channelled funds into what was then Ottoman-controlled land.

He financed agricultural colonies, bought land from the Ottoman Empire, funded Hebrew schools, and built wineries that still bottle wine today.

Agricultural colonies like Rishon LeZion, Zikhron Ya'akov, and Rosh Pina sprang to life under his patronage. He funded the draining of malarial swamps, the cultivation of vineyards, and the construction of schools that taught Hebrew to a new generation. To early settlers, he was HaNadiv HaYadu'a, "The Known Benefactor."

When he died, he was given a state funeral in Israel, decades before it officially existed.

If Edmond was the builder, Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937) was the broker. A British aristocrat, scientist, and president of the English Zionist Federation, he became the formal recipient of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the British letter pledging support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

He served as President of the English Zionist Federation.

The legacy passed next to James Armand de Rothschild and his wife Dorothy. He donated 1.25 million pounds for the construction of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament building. After his death, Dorothy financed the Supreme Court.

The most recent and arguably most vocal Rothschild to steward this legacy was Lord Jacob Rothschild (1936-2024), the 4th Baron and Victor's son. A financier, philanthropist, and cultural patron, Jacob chaired the Yad Hanadiv Foundation, which continues to support major projects in Israel. Under his leadership, the Foundation helped fund Israel's New National Library in Jerusalem.

Not every Rothschild was a committed Zionist. Archival records suggest that Victor Rothschild, despite his parliamentary support, opposed certain humanitarian appeals on behalf of Jewish refugees before World War II.

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