Jacob Rothschild Reads the Balfour Declaration: How Britain Promised a “National Home” in Palestine

If you've ever wondered what “Zionism,” “Jew,” “Israelite,” Palestine, and the State of Israel actually mean—and how they became connected—this archival interview provides an important piece of the history.

An Israelite refers to the ancient people associated with the biblical nation of Israel and its Twelve Tribes. Jew originally referred specifically to a person associated with Judah, although over centuries the word came to be used more broadly for the Jewish people and their religion, Judaism. Zionism is the modern political movement advocating for a Jewish national homeland/state in the historic Land of Israel/Palestine. These terms are related, but they are not interchangeable.

In 1917, during World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued what became known as the Balfour Declaration, addressed to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, a prominent British Zionist. Britain declared that it would support establishing in Palestine a “national home for the Jewish people.” At the time, Palestine was not an empty piece of land waiting to be claimed—it was already home to a large population of Palestinian Arabs and other communities. The declaration itself acknowledged the existence of these “non-Jewish communities” and stated that their civil and religious rights should not be prejudiced.

So why does this matter? Because a major world power was making a political promise concerning a land inhabited by another population. The Balfour Declaration became one of the key documents in the history of modern Zionism, the British Mandate for Palestine, Palestinian displacement, and the eventual establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Understanding this document helps explain why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be understood simply by starting with the events of 1948—or even October 2023.

In this interview, Lord Jacob Rothschild discusses his family's connection to Zionism and reads the original Balfour Declaration aloud. The document allows viewers to hear the words for themselves rather than relying solely on someone else's interpretation of history.

This video is presented for historical, educational, journalistic, and documentary purposes. The objective is to make complicated history understandable to people who were never taught it in school.

Learn the terminology. Read the documents. Examine the history. Then make your own assessment