God, Guns and Israel

It was the Old Testament-inspired theology of Nonconformist British politicians which created the state of Israel, just as much as the longings of Zionists for a homeland for the Jews. By looking into the backgrounds and actions of members of Lloyd George's War Cabinet, Jill Hamilton establishes that these ten Britons, with their shared Protestant Nonconformist backgrounds, steeped in Old Testament imagery and imbued with a sense of the historical destiny of the Jews, created the conditions for the emergence of Israel. Woven into the narrative is the story of David Ben-Gurion and other soldiers in the Jewish Legion which was formed within the British army. It follows them from the time of their first tottering steps on the moors of Devonshire, to their quarter-century as members of the secret underground army, the Haganah, to May 1948, when Ben-Gurion declared independence for the new state of Israel.