The Mythological Symbolism of Israel
And - the debunking of other myths and conspiracy theories.
The Star of David
The Star of David is the iconic symbol of everything that is Israel. But what is its origins and what is the real meaning behind the symbol? The Jewish Virtual Library outlines how a symbol adopted by the Zionists became the State icon for Israel:
At the ceremony of the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, the dais was decorated with a picture of Theodor Herzl, flanked on either side by the flag of the World Zionist Organization. This flag, adopted by the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897, had become accepted by Jewish communities throughout the world as the emblem of Zionism and it was thus natural to use it at the official proclamation of statehood.
It took six months before the symbol was officially adopted and the national flag was made. Its origins confirm unequivocally that Israel is a Zionist state:
This decision to adopt the Zionist flag to be the flag of the State of Israel reflects its power as a symbol of the spirit of the Zionist movement.
The final design of the flag was credited to David Wolffsohn, who stated:
“At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basle to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among many other problems that occupied me then was one which contained something of the essence of the Jewish problem. What flag would we hang in the Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a flag — and it is blue and white. The talith (prayer ahawl) with which we wrap ouselves when we pray: that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith from its bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and the eyes of all nations. So I ordered a blue and white flag with the Shield of David painted upon it. That is how the national flag, that flew over Congress Hall, came into being.”
Ironically though the Star of David isn’t Jewish, a fact noted in the JVL account. It makes reference to an article published in Commentary by historian Gershom Sholem in 1949, The Curious History of the Six Pointed Star; How the 'Magen David' Became the Jewish Symbol.
It’s also known as the Shield of David (Hebrew, Magen David), even though it wasn’t linked to king David either. Sholem’s somewhat meandering account uncovers the origins of the symbol.
Initially a five pointed star was used as a symbol, mainly within a Christian context, as talismans and amulets. In short, it was magical in a literary sense or even occultist, depending on interpretation. The symbol was picked up by the Kabbalah (or Cabala), a form of Jewish esoteric mysticism, which itself has different variants. But its use has many interpretations, as is pointed out:
the common Jewish textbooks are full of nonsense about the presumed origin of the general use of the Shield of David in the Lurianic Cabala. According to this “theory,” the diffusion of the symbol occurred in the 16th century.
Sholem goes on to say:
The Shield of David has neither a Jewish religious “genealogy” nor a Jewish religious significance, either exoterically or esoterically; and it certainly had no place in the mystical world of the devout men of Israel.
The symbol became incorporated within Jewish magic, which was associated with the Cabalists, but had no direct connection to their beliefs. Within that context, it was used as a seal. This was a practice that had filtered through from Arabic culture, which itself has an illustrious history of being scientifically aware, along with beliefs in occultism and magic. The use of the symbols in this fashion became known as the “Seal of Solomon”. According to legend it specifically relates to a ring worn by King Solomon, ‘on which the name of God was engraved and by means of which he controlled the demons.’ It was the Arabs that applied the term:
"Solomon's seal" to the six-pointed star-like figure engraved on the bottom of their drinking-cups. It is related in the "Arabian Nights" that Sindbad, in his seventh voyage, presented Harun al-Rashid cup on which the "table of Solomon" was represented; and …that this was the figure of "Solomon's seal".
Sholem continues to discuss how the seal was used as a talisman to shield against evil spirits. From the Middle Ages to around the 14th century, the seal was used in a Mezuzah, which is:
a small parchment scroll upon which the Hebrew words of the Shema [a prayer] are handwritten by a scribe. Mezuzah scrolls are rolled up and affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes, designating the home as Jewish and reminding those who live there of their connection to God and their heritage.
The seals are inscribed upon the Mezuzah. As Sholom notes:
The seals in most of the versions of these magical mezuzot—of which some have come down to us—are nothing more than representations of the Shield of David (sometimes as many as twelve in one mezuzah).
But what of the connection to King David? Sholom offers the most likely explanation that David’s shield didn’t actually depict the Shield of David, but an image of Psalm 67 in the shape of the menorah. As such:
It must be admitted that the menorah would seem to have a better right to serve as the symbol of Judaism than the Shield of David, in its present accepted form.
To elaborate:
The writing of Psalm 67 in the shape of the menorah became very widespread after the 15th century. It was the custom to read this psalm during the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot, and in all the special prayer books for this period it was so written. Hence arose the custom of using this image in synagogues and other places, and the Cabalists gave its talismanic virtue unlimited praise. At the end of a booklet entitled The Golden Menorah, printed in Prague in the 16th century, we read: “This psalm, together with the menorah, is an allusion to great things . . . . And King David used to bear this psalm inscribed, pictured, and engraved on his shield, on a sheet of gold, in the shape of the menorah, when he went forth to battle, and he would meditate on its mystery, and conquer”; and similarly in many other books.
It’s that image that forms the title picture of this article (above). The magical qualities of the six pointed talisman found its way into wider use as seals. The Jewish communities in Prague play a central role here that would spread the familiar image of the star of David. The story goes:
Many years ago, the Jewish Community of Prague helped the king fight against an enemy. In recognition of their service, the king granted them the right to fly their own flag. Over time, it became moldy. Then in 1716, the Jews held a grand parade to honor the birth of a crown prince in the royal court. To honor the occasion a new flag was created.
The new flag has been hung in the Altneuschul in Prague since it creation (image below).
By the 19th Century, the use of the Shield of David had spread throughout Europe. Apparently is use was inspired by Christianity and the need to impose a familiar icon similar to the cross. Sholom notes:
The new emancipated Jews desired to erect above the walls of the synagogue something resembling the symbol of the cross, and this is what led to the ascendancy of the Shield of David in the 19th century, and helped it to become widely used on ceremonial objects as well. It was from the enlightened West that the symbol of Jewishness passed to Poland and Russia.
Its increased use became controversial, as Sholom points out:
The upshot of the matter is this: in the very days of its greatest popularity the Shield of David was a meaningless symbol of Judaism; and the Judaism of those days, in turn, tended to be meaningless. It required more than preachers’ sermons, however admirable in intent, to breathe life into a symbol. The successful and empty career of the Shield of David during the 19th century is in some measure a token of the Jewish decadence of that century.
This then leads to the inimitable connection with the State of Israel and the arrival of Zionism. To sum up:
When they chose it as a symbol for Zionism at the Basle Congress of 1897, the Shield of David was possessed of two virtues that met the requirements of men in quest of a symbol: on the one hand, its wide diffusion during the previous century—its appearance on every new synagogue, on the stationery of many charitable organizations, etc.—had made it known to everybody; and on the other, it was not explicitly identified with a religious association in the consciousness of their contemporaries. This lack became its virtue. The symbol did not arouse memories of the past: it could be filled with hope for the future.
The irony here is that the only element of the Israeli flag that is actually Jewish is the blue stripes that border the symbol. These are derived from the tallit, the prayer shawl. Historically this originally incorporated blue stripes.
There is another connotation associated with the symbols’ occultist leanings. It’s the association with 666, the mark of the beast. The book The Six-Pointed Star delves into this aspect of the symbol. It notes:
Although the six-pointed star is seen all around the world and is accepted as the symbol of the Jews, it is still used today in magic and witchcraft and the casting of astrological horoscopes. At close notice it is seen that the six-pointed star is comprised of a six within a six within a six. Is this 666 symbol a warning to the Jewish people? Could this be the symbol of a false Messiah who will come to modern Israel?
Much of this is based on biblical legend. It’s very much a case of how individual beliefs tune in to these issues. It would certainly be intriguing to consider Israel’s core symbol as representing the mark of Satan!
The Menorah according to legend dates back to Solomon’s Temple. God instructed the making of the Menorah to Moses (Exodus 25:31–40). Overall it’s supposed to a symbol of peace and universal enlightenment, with the original seven branched Menorah alluding to:
the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp. The menorah also symbolizes the creation in seven days, with the center light representing the Sabbath.
It’s featured in another prominent Israeli symbol, the Emblem of Israel. The image is a depiction of the menorah on the Arch of Titus, with olive branches at either side.
Freemasonry
There is another use of the Star of David that has fallen into notoriety, namely the Nazi requirement that Jews should wear the ‘Yellow Star’. That will be told in another story. Then there is the association with Freemasonry. The link here is its association with the Temple of Solomon and by implication the seal of Solomon. According to legend:
Freemasonry traces its origin as an institution of the temple. According to ancient theories such as The Legend of the Craft speculate that Solomon initially concocted the fraternity.
It was conceived as a secret society during the construction of the temple on Mount Moriah.
Much of the Masonic ritual is derived from the Kabbalah, so this would represent an active link to the symbolism here. There is of course a wider sinister element that has become the subject of conspiracy theories, the classic being the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which purports that:
Jews and Freemasons were said to have made plans to disrupt Christian civilization and erect a world state under their joint rule. Liberalism and socialism were to be the means of subverting Christendom; if subversion failed, all the capitals of Europe were to be sabotaged.
It was concocted at the time of the first Zionist congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897 and was supposed to represent what transpired there. Since then it has spawned various myths and lent credence to Hitlers’ belief that Freemasons were intertwined with Jews, a point touched on here:
Hitler himself was unsure of the authenticity of the Protocols – a question of verification that may not have mattered all that much to the Nazis. The Führer told one of his early associates that the Protocols were “immensely instructive” in exposing what the Jews could accomplish in terms of “political intrigue,” and in demonstrating their skill at “deception [and] organization.”
Of course freemasonry has a prominent presence in Israel itself, as this article from Haaretz outlines. It notes the Nazi persecution, how Freemasons were herded into camps and forced to ‘wear a red patch in the shape of an upside-down triangle, as though to deprive them of the power embodied in their organization’s equilateral-triangle symbol’. Up to 200,000 Freemasons were murdered in Nazi Germany.
The Grand Lodge of the State of Israel (GLSI) is based in Tel Aviv, where:
On the front door is the distinctive symbol of the Grand Lodge in Israel – a square and compasses enclosing the symbols of Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the Star of David, the cross and the crescent.
Yitzhak Rabin joined the US Freemasons during his tenure as US ambassador. He had a close relationship with Jordan’s King Hussein, who was also a Freemason. But what about the wider influence of masons related to the ongoing conflict? This paper, Jewish-Arab Relations in Israeli Freemasonry: Between Civil Society and Nationalism, from Danny Kaplan (Bar-Ilan University), published by the Middle East Institute, provides some background to the relationship between Arabs and Jews, as well as Christians.
It’s predominately influenced by English Freemasonry, with some Scottish influence also. This stems from the imperial presence of Britain during the Mandate period. Most Freemasons are Jewish, but there’s a significant Christian-Arab membership, with some Druze and Muslim participation.
Freemasons first arrived in Palestine during the Ottoman period, predominately from Turkey. But this was suspended during world war 1 as the Ottomans expelled foreigners, many of them masons. Other countries had a masonic presence in Palestine, but divisions grew with Jewish immigration. However in 1933, the National Grand Lodge in Palestine (NGLP) was formed in an effort to engender unity. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Arab-speaking lodges became inactive. However:
In 1951, four Hebrew-speaking lodges and the English-speaking Holy City Lodge, backed by representatives of two inactive Arab-speaking lodges — all operating under Scottish obedience — petitioned the Grand Lodge of Scotland and were granted recognition as the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel.
This paved the way for the formal establishment of the GLSI in 1953.
During the prewar Ottoman period, most masons were Palestinian Christians and Muslims, from established families. These included the ‘Arafat, Nashashibi, Nusayba, and Khalidi families, which went on to play an important role in Palestinian municipal and national politics’. Zionist influence grew during this period. Even in the current setup, although there is a degree of segregation of particular lodges that accommodate either Arabs or Jews, there is nevertheless good social links within the network. Indeed there has been previous Palestinian Grand Masters in recent years. Kaplan notes though that during his research, he noticed that ‘Overall, Jewish interviewees presented an idealized picture of Masonic Arab-Jewish relations’, Arab interviewees, by comparison tended to be more ambivalent, even though the general attitude was relatively positive. In short:
individual Jewish and Arab members maintain relatively strong ties of sociability at the organizational and personal levels. Their (often idealized) accounts of these interactions should be read, however, in light of the Jewish/Arab divide in Israeli society and the unequal positions of Jewish and Arab citizens.
Kaplan makes an interesting observation here:
one of my Arab students with strong self-professed Palestinian nationalist convictions told me that in her community Arab Masons were viewed as Zionist collaborators, echoing widespread belief in a Masonic-Zionist conspiracy. I was also told by one of my informants of Masonic candidates from the Nazareth lodge, who upon joining the order were excommunicated by their families until they were obliged to leave.
Despite the non-political ethos and fraternity within the GLSI, there was nevertheless Zionist undercurrents present. Kaplan notes:
Masons consider fostering impartial ties of fraternity to be a high virtue and a special achievement of which not every person is capable. Several members stressed that this virtue is all the more valued in the Israeli and Middle Eastern context, given the surrounding military and political conflict.
It would appear then that Freemasonry in Israel offers something of a sanctuary from the fissures in contemporary Israel. But the political realities of the situation means that Freemasons - whatever their ethnic background - can’t escape those realities completely. This of course stands in stark relief to the conspiracies conjured up by The Protcols of Jews and Freemasons controlling the world - theories that led to the industrial murder of both in Nazi Germany. Remarkably though it was German lodges based in Palestine that restored Freemasonry in post-war Germany. Before the war though, there was a degree historical anti-semitism in German lodges.
The conspiracy outlined in The Protcols has invariably also had an impact on Arab perspectives, as noted above regarding the student who viewed Arab Masons as Zionist collaborators. This is reflected in the original 1988 Hamas Covenant, where four articles make reference to Freemasons as ‘cells of subversion and saboteurs’ (Article 17). Article 22 states:
the enemies have been planning, skillfully and with precision… With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests.
And in Article 28:
The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam.
Finally in Article 32, an explicit mention of the book:
The Islamic Resistance Movement calls on Arab and Islamic nations to take up the line of serious and persevering action to prevent the success of this horrendous plan, to warn the people of the danger eminating from leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism. Today it is Palestine, tomorrow it will be one country or another. The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.
An alternative to Freemasonry?
In 1843, a group of German Jewish immigrants formed the B’nai B’rith in New York. The organisation was modeled on Freemasonry. For the B’nai B’rith (Hebrew: Children of the Covenant), humanitarianism and tackling antisemitism were key elements of the organisation. It claims on its international web site that it is the ‘global voice of the Jewish community’. But then indicates that it’s ‘advocating for Israel’. Both are mutually exclusive. Israel is a self proclaimed Jewish state, which most certainly does not represent Judaism as a religion. Therefore B’nai B’rith’s claim is a fallacy. It’s a Zionist organisation. It attended an Extraordinary Zionist Congress in April 2023. At the conference, B’nai B’rith submitted a resolution:
saluting the State of Israel on its 75th anniversary and rededicating the WZO to its core principles as formulated in the Jerusalem Program.
This paper B’nai B’rith (sons of the Covenant) succinctly outlines the nature of the organisation. It states that it’s:
in reality nationalist and political in structure. Its strategy is to promote the widest possible solidarity amongst Jews from every walk of life, to strengthen their foothold in their social-economic and political fields, to cement their bonds with Israeli and to skillfully use the local Jewish population as pro-Israel lobbies and pressure groups. Its assets and resources are unlimited. It is represented at the UN as a NGO. In New York, it has two specialists attached to the UN and another three engaged on West Asian affairs.
Initially following its founding, the organisation played a proactive role in Jewish affairs. According to the paper, the B’nai B’rith is the largest Jewish organisation in the world, but certainly not secretive nor non-political being overtly political Zionist in orientation. It does however share some of the symbolism of Freemasonry, as can be seen in this B'nai B'rith membership certificate.
In 1913, an offshoot of the B’nai B’rith was formed. Originally known as The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, it simply became known as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Its remit was to combat antisemitism. It states:
Anti-Zionism is antisemitic, in intent or effect, as it invokes anti-Jewish tropes, is used to disenfranchise, demonize, disparage, or punish all Jews and/or those who feel a connection to Israel, equates Zionism with Nazism and other genocidal regimes, and renders Jews less worthy of sovereignty and nationhood than other peoples and states.
The rest is open to interpretation…
The JVL offers a historical overview of the ADL. With respect to Israel, it’s noted that the ADL’s association became more prominent after 1967, that:
the ADL has carved a highly nuanced political path, especially on Israel-related issues, threading its way skillfully between agencies such as the rightist Zionist Organization of America and Jewish groups of the left. This "centrist" approach has been evident in a range of domestic public affairs issues as well. …The ADL has commissioned a series of public opinion surveys, both in the United States and in Europe, which have elicited valuable data on antisemitic attitudes and on attitudes toward Israel.
But, as this Counterpunch article outlines, there has been evidence of more sinister operations going on. A cache of documents released in 1993 by the District of Attorney of San Francisco revealed that the ADL were engaged in:
a vast spying operation directed against American citizens who were opposed to Israel’s policies in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza and to the apartheid policies of the government of South Africa and passing on information to both governments.
The case was dropped under pressure, but later the ADL was taken to trial, despite spending millions to avoid litigation. An overview of the case in a later article outlined in detail the underhanded methods and dirty tricks used by the ADL. As the the ADL’s antics were exposed, it engaged in damage limitation. Sensitive information was surfacing over the close ties with Israel and the South African apartheid regime. The main focus though was on Palestinian and Arab-American groups. The lawsuit went on until 2002, when finally the ADL throw in the towel and a financial settlement was agreed. But this was nothing new. The article exposes a checkered history of covert activities since its founding, such as the revelations from released FBI files that:
on August 8, 1940, the ADL offered a confidential list of hundreds of undercover ADL investigators to FBI Director J Edgar Hoover. ADL offered the contact list as a resource for FBI informants and additional undercover agents.
Some members of the list, such as Abraham Feinberg, would later be investigated by the FBI as agents of a foreign government and for quashing investigations targeting illegal arms-smuggling from the US to Israel.
Feinberg would later backhand a wad of cash to the tune of $2 million towards Harry Truman’s successful presidential campaign. As a result:
Truman had earned Feinberg’s largesse by recognizing Israel minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared the state into existence.
The ADL was also active in the anti-communist witch hunts that emerged during this period. More recently in 2022, the ADL got involved with Ukraine. On its website, the ADL lobbies prominently on Holocaust denial. Yet, as Electronic Intifada reports, the ADL is actively engaging in the rehabilitation of neo-Nazi groups from Ukraine. Officially Israel has sat on the fence over Ukraine, given its geopolitical relationship with Russia in the Middle East, not to mention a proportion of former Soviet Jews from both camps in the war, resident in Israel. But behind the scenes, there’s a different story. As the EI notes:
Israel and its lobby depend on support from the United States. So when Washington goes to war, the lobby will often lend its propaganda services to the cause.
The Anti-Defamation League, one of Israel’s top US lobby groups, is doing so now by rehabilitating Ukrainian collaborators who helped Hitler exterminate Jews and Poles. This Holocaust revisionism is motivated by the need to whitewash the present-day, far-right Ukrainian nationalists and neo-Nazis who are supported by the United States.
In order to do this, the ADL has engaged in selective Holocaust revisionism, effectively twisting history to fit a propaganda narrative on Ukraine’s Nazi problem. That includes playing down the role of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
AI sums up the blatant hypocrisy:
In 2019 – before it became politically necessary to whitewash them – the ADL itself warned that an “extremist group called the Azov Battalion has ties to neo-Nazis and white supremacists” and issued a report on how the Ukrainian militia was trying to “connect with like-minded extremists from the US.”
And:
It may seem surprising that an Israel lobby group claiming to fight bigotry against Jews and others would help to whitewash Nazis. But the alliance between Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism goes back a century.
Noam Chomsky conducted an analysis of the ADL in his article Necessary Illusions (1989):
The ADL has virtually abandoned its earlier role as a civil rights organization, becoming “one of the main pillars” of Israeli propaganda in the U.S., as the Israeli press casually describes it, engaged in surveillance, blacklisting, compilation of FBI-style files circulated to adherents for the purpose of defamation, angry public responses to criticism of Israeli actions, and so on. These efforts, buttressed by insinuations of anti-Semitism or direct accusations, are intended to deflect or undermine opposition to Israeli policies, including Israel’s refusal, with U.S. support, to move towards a general political settlement. The ADL was condemned by the Middle East Studies Association after circulation of an ADL blacklist to campus Jewish leaders, stamped “confidential.” Practices of this nature have been bitterly condemned by Israeli doves — in part because they fear the consequences of this hysterical chauvinism for Israel, in part because they have been subjected to the standard procedures themselves, in part simply in natural revulsion.
We now know where the real conspiracy lies and who the conspirators are.
The Rothschild Dynasty
Of course the conspiracy agenda wouldn’t be complete without some discussion on the Rothschilds. Britannica gives a brief overview of the family, how it all started with Mayer Amschel Rothschild in a Frankfurt banking house. He was highly innovative and built up the banking business with his five sons, who set up shop in London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples, thus developing the business internationally. They took advantage of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars of 1792–1815, receiving income from loans. There was smuggling as well as legal trade in various commodities. As their empire and reputations expanded they moved into government bonds. Their timing was perfect as this was during the expansion of the industrial revolution, which brought considerable economic growth throughout Europe.
To keep the business within the family, cousins frequently married each other. But wherever they went, they found positions of status. A Rothschild became the first Jew to enter the British parliament and another became a peer. Then came the conspiracy theories, driven mainly by antisemitism, due to the fact they were a Jewish family, and their great success had all the hallmarks of Jews taking over the world. The book by Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, Vol 1: Money’s Prophets, 1798-1848, goes into the dynasty in depth.
The name comes from the German, which means ‘red shield’:
We know that Isak, son of Elchanan, built a house in the 1560s known as “zum roten Schild” (“the red shield”), presumably after some kind of shield of the sort often hung at the front of houses. It was common enough for residents of the Judengasse to become known by their addresses.
One of the most famous stories pertaining to their wealth acquisition related to the battle of Waterloo. The story appeared to originate from from a fictional character - ‘a roguish German-born banker’ - created by the French writer Honoré de Balzac. In his book The House of Nucingen:
he describes Nucingen’s second greatest business coup as a massive speculation on the outcome of the battle of Waterloo. This story was repeated nine years later in Georges Dairnvaell’s scurrilous pamphlet, The Edifying and Curious History of Rothschild I, King of the Jews (1846), which claimed that, by obtaining the first news of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, Nathan had been able to make a huge sum of money by speculating on the stock exchange. In later versions of the story, Nathan was said to have witnessed the battle himself, risking a Channel storm to reach London ahead of the official news of Wellington’s victory and thereby pocketing between £20 and £135 million. Other accounts have him bribing the French General Grouchy to ensure Wellington’s victory; and then deliberately misreporting the outcome in London in order to precipitate panic-selling.
The book outlines various other bizarre conspiracies, such as David Icke’s contention that:
the economic rationale behind Rothschild support for Zionism, “the single purpose” of which is supposedly “to secure permanent and secure access to [the] vast natural resources in the Far East.”
They were also behind the assassination of President Lincoln and:
“…financed the rise of Hitler as a bulwark against the Soviet Union,” adding by way of “explanation” that “the Rothschilds are interwoven with the Catholic Church and, jointly with the traditional mafia and the American CIA, interlocked with the Vatican Bank, which was pro-Nazi.”
These are just some of the stories. With respect to the symbolism noted above, the Star of David has been associated with the Rothschilds. But this again stems from antisemitic tropes. The Nazi’s in particular made the link in an anti-Rothschild propaganda film by Erich Waschnek, Die Rothschilds, featuring a Star of David to get the appropriate message across. In the film:
Nathan draws a map of Europe to show the centres of Rothschild power and a family tree which, when its branches are connected, forms a Star of David; the flaming star is then superimposed over a map of England with the accompanying title: “As this film was being completed, the last members of the Rothschild family are leaving Europe as refugees and escaping to their allies in England. The fight against British plutocracy continues!”
What about their connections with Zionism? Put simply, they had no initial aspirations towards Palestine. Theodor Herzl made the effort to engage with the Rothschilds. But:
his sixty-six-page address “to the Rothschild Family Council” was never sent, as he concluded from an initial rebuff that they were “vulgar, contemptuous, egoistical people.” The Rothschilds, he later declared, were “a national misfortune for the Jews”; he even threatened to“liquidate” them or to “wage a barbaric campaign” against them if they opposed him.
Niall Ferguson’s second volume of the book, covers the period from 1849-1999. Here, the Rothschilds connections with Palestine are explored further. In 1882, Edmond Rothschild began investing in early settlements. Despite investing £1.6 million in settlements that were supposed to be economically self-sustaining, they faltered. They were transferred to the Jewish Colonisation Association in 1900. He continued to represent their banking interests. However as the book notes, these:
should not be equated with Zionism in the sense of Jewish nationalism aiming at the creation of a Jewish state, nor should the English Rothschilds’ interest in Jewish colonisation.
At this time, none of the Rothschilds were in favour of a Jewish state. This - as noted above - enraged Herzl, who continued to press Edmond over the issue. But Herzl was told that his plans were ‘a threat to his own colonisation program’. In 1902, Herzl went to London to drum up support from the Rothschilds there. But he was told by Natty that he viewed:
“with horror the establishment of a Jewish Colony pure and simple.” “Of one thing I’m convinced,” he declared: “ that the dream of Palestine is a myth and will-of-the-wisp.”… It was only when Herzl changed his strategy, arguing that any Jewish colony in Sinai could be a part of the British Empire, that Natty became interested.
The Sinai initiative never got off the ground.
The Rothschilds lack of favour towards Herzl was linked to his socialist outlook and his plans for a nationalised banking system in Palestine, which certainly lacked appeal. Herzl’s volatile character didn’t help, issuing the threats noted above. But more importantly was the threat of antisemitism that loomed over the creation of a Jewish state, something that even Herzl was aware of. In short:
far from seeing Zionism as “an answer to the Jewish question,” they saw it as a threat to their position.
There were signs at the end of world war 1 that the Rothschilds were more accessible to Zionism. The fact that the Balfour Declaration was addressed to Lord Walter Rothschild muddied the waters somewhat. The driving force here was British Imperialism, something that the English Rothschilds were a part of, although the same could be said of the extended family in European colonial corners at the time. Although the family was cautious, Walter came out in favour of British control over Palestine based on Balfour’s declaration. Walter and Edmonds son Jimmy, addressed a celebration held at the Covent Garden opera house:
It was, Walter told the excited audience, "the greatest event that has occurred in Jewish history for the last eighteen hundred years." "The British government," declared Jimmy, "had ratified the Zionist scheme"
But the move did not meet with unanimous appeal throughout the family. Some opposed it. But the wheels had been set in motion.
For some, Herzl was an unhinged character, nevertheless his vision was realised and it could be argued that the fact his vision did succeed is very much a reflection of the world that accommodated it.
The main purpose of this investigation is to debunk the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the family. There is no new world order or Illuminati hiding under the bed. The Rothschilds were innovative bankers. But as is typical of innovative businesses, they were superseded by more powerful concerns.
The Nature of Symbolism
Symbols represent nationalism and here I’ll look at symbolism from a conceptual perspective. The paper, Waving the Flag: National Symbolism, Social Identity, and Political Engagement (2007, Robert T. Schatz, Metropolitan State College of Denver and Howard Lavine, SUNY—Stony Brook), published in the Journal Political Psychology, examines the importance of national symbols and ritualistic-ceremonial activities.
The general consensus is that:
expressions of national sentiment are directed toward national symbols rather than to the nation itself and that such symbolism is infused with unique psychological meaning and political import.
This can be associated with “blind patriotism.” Important here is the ties with a defined “ingroup” that engenders a tribal attachment and identity. This is related to social identity theory, where self awareness of the group defines an individuals identity. The ingroup then becomes distinct from “outgroups”:
Consequently, positive ingroup identification often generates ingroup-biased attitudes and behavior, particularly when the intergroup context is highly salient.
This ties in with the concept of “imagined” communities, whereby ‘the ability of national symbols to objectify the group is essential to arousing group identification.’ Iconic here is the national flag, which imbues all the elements of identity and nationalism. This, as the paper notes:
crystallize[s] the group’s past into an historical entity that can be glorified, romanticized, and mythologized. National symbols thus essentialize the group as a transcendent psychological entity, one that connects the individual to larger meaning and purpose, superceding the individual’s personal existence and inevitable mortality, thereby reducing anxiety.
The paper makes a distinction between symbolic and instrumental national involvement, which is defined respectively as:
the perceived importance to the individual of the physical symbols that represent the nation (e.g., the flag, national monuments) and ritualistic-ceremonial activities (e.g., songs, parades) that express national membership, devotion, and allegiance.
And:
the perceived importance to the individual of the functioning of the nation’s social, political, and economic systems, and concern for the nation’s capability to provide instrumental benefits to its citizens.
Right-wing authoritarian groups tended more towards symbolic involvement. The general conclusion to research conducted by the authors notes:
Given these powerful effects of symbolic involvement on identity-related aspects of national membership, it is striking that symbolic involvement utterly failed to instigate any form of concrete political engagement. Symbolic involvement was simply independent of individuals’ knowledge about the country, and unrelated to participation in national political life. Thus, a personal concern for national symbols and rituals seems to have little to do with behavior intended to monitor or improve the functioning of the nation. It appears then that concern for national symbolism invokes self-categorization in “pure” form; in essence, it is identification with a psychological abstraction, one that is relatively devoid of concern about group functionality. At the very least, the present results strongly suggest that symbolic involvement does not guarantee involvement with the nation as a social-political system.
This is just as relevant to the Israeli state as it is to any other. In Israel though, there is a paradox of Jewish nationalism, which will feature in a subsequent article. But to sum up, Israel itself is both a paradox and a mythological entity. It is perhaps the greatest conspiracy of the 20th Century.