Shalom friends,

While we look back at the anniversary of the first draft of the Balfour Declaration and the journey of the Exodus ship full of Holocaust survivors intent on freedom in their ancestral homeland - Israel is again under attack.

For the last three months Israel has been under fire - from daily arson terror attacks and intermittent barrages of missiles from Hamas in Gaza. This past weekend we saw some 200 missiles rain down on the communities of southern Israel. This week, while for the moment the missiles have ceased, the arson terror attacks delivered by kite and balloon, have not.

Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland is not something that was easily achieved and is something that we must constantly fight to maintain. There is no room for “resting on the laurels” of all that the Jewish State has achieved or take for granted the idea that Israel is FOREVER.

In 1917, with the help of the Zionist movement, the British government drafted what became known as the Balfour Declaration, the first ever public recognition of Jewish right to our homeland by a national government.

Just 30 years later, over 4,000 Holocaust survivors journeyed on the Exodus ship in hopes of entering the land of Israel. When the ship docked in Haifa, the British government turned them away and did not them access to the land they had previously affirmed belonged to the Jewish people.

101 years ago our right to our Jewish homeland was affirmed globally, and 71 years ago that same right was denied by the very government who proclaimed it. International recognition of Jewish rights to our ancestral homeland is important and cannot be revoked. In regards to international law, the previous law takes precedence over any desire to revoke it.

It is important to recognize that international recognition is a recognition of reality, not the creation of reality. There is no law, declaration or circumstance that can change the Jewish connection to the land in which our people originated.

It is up to us to make sure that Israel is FOREVER, it will not happen by itself.

You can make a difference by arming yourself with the knowledge of our history and our heritage, passing it on to the next generations and being proactive in your support of the only Jewish State.

	THE FIRST DRAFT: REACHING THE DECLARATION Crafting the Balfour Declaration was an unprecedented exercise in balancing the Zionist dream with the political calculations of the British Empire. It wasn’t easy but the result changed history. READ MORE
	PRINCE WILLIAM'S VISIT TO ISRAEL AND RELATING IT TO BRITISH RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL THROUGH BALFOUR The Jewish Nation and the British people have a long history together that has not always been positive. Was Prince William’s journey to Israel the signal that it is possible to set the relationship on a new trajectory? READ MORE
	WHAT 1 MILLION SIGNATURES MEAN Israel Forever intern Rachel Brynien explains what 1 million signatures on the Balfour Declaration means to her as a Jewish American college student who faces antisemitism and anti-Zionism on her campus. READ MORE
	THE BATTLE LINES WERE DRAWN. THE JEWS WOULD NOT SURRENDER. Those who declare that the “British gave Palestine to the Jews” are not familiar with the story of the Exodus. It was sheer determination that brought the Jewish people back to Eretz Yisrael and certainly not a gift of good will. This is a story of Jewish heroism. READ MORE
	SHABBATTALKS ACTIVITY WITH DISCUSSION QUESTIONS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BALFOUR Israel Forever’s Shabbat Talks are a series of discussions to spice up your Shabbat table with renewed focus on Jewish identity, history and what it all means today. Balfour and beyond is a Shabbat Talk based on the Balfour Declaration and its impact on the Nation of Israel. READ MORE

Constant attempts are made to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish State.
The Balfour Declaration itself is under attack as the source for creating Israel as a “colonialist” state. It is up to us to make sure history is not rewritten. Knowing the facts is the only way to protect our future.

LEARN THE TRUTH. TEACH OTHERS. BE A PART OF THE INITIATIVE