In 2017, a celebratory event was held in London for the centenary of the Balfour Declaration. Prime Minister Theresa May lauded Balfour. “Lord Balfour,” she said, “had the vision and the leadership to make this profound statement about restoring a persecuted people to a safe and secure homeland.” As we have seen, of course, it was not Balfour who made the statement. He had a hand in the drafting, but it was the War Cabinet's statement. The aim, May was suggesting in any event, was to protect Jewry. That effort was the more remarkable, she said, because the Government had other matters on its mind. “With Britain still embroiled in the midst of the First World War, the idea of establishing a homeland for the Jewish people would have seemed a distant dream for many.”

If the Balfour Declaration was issued to assert Jewish rights, it potentially could serve as a basis for such rights. If the Balfour Declaration was issued for other reasons, then it may not provide such a basis. The 1948 declaration of Jewish statehood, as we just saw, referred to a Jewish right in Palestine and asserted that such a right “was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917.” So the Balfour Declaration was taken by the statehood declarants as a rights-affirming document, issued on the premise that the Jewish people had a legal right to territory in Palestine.

The War Cabinet's statement, however, was not framed in the language of rights. It recited that the War Cabinet “favoured” a Jewish national home, but without saying why. The English Zionist Federation had lobbied for rights-affirming language. One draft it proposed referred to “the right of the Jewish people to build up its national life in Palestine.” The War Cabinet avoided such phrasing. The Balfour Declaration as issued contains no hint of legal right. The historical record shows that the War Cabinet issued it not to proclaim Jewish rights, but to promote the War effort.

May said that the statement was issued despite Britain's involvement in the War. May got it wrong. The statement was issued precisely because of the War.