Israel
In the 1880s his grandfather Edmond had been responsible for supporting massive land purchases and underwriting the very first Jewish settlements in what was then Palestine and despite his refusal to back the pioneers of Zionism he was widely praised by Zionist leaders. Although Edmond had not been brought up in a religious environment, he became a passionate Zionist when young and his frequent trips to Israel raised family concerns that he might create problems due to his youthful enthusiasm. After the death of his uncle James Armand de Rothschild in 1957, he was left as the only direct male descendant of his grandfather and carried on his grandfather's enthusiastic support for Israel. Following the advice of Israel's first prime minister, David ben-Gurion, Edmond concentrated on providing capital to create jobs in the infant state—a policy which brought him into conflict with his Uncle's widow, his aunt Dorothy de Rothschild, who preferred philanthropy as a policy.
Read more about this topic: Edmond Adolphe De Rothschild
Famous quotes containing the word israel:
“Do you not see that so long as society says woman has not brains enough to be a doctor, lawyer or minister, but has plenty to be a teacher, every man of you who condescends to teach, tacitly admits before all Israel and the sun that he has no more brains than a woman?”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“The greatest security for Israel is to create new Egypts.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord’s portion: whom, being his firstborn, he nourisheth with discipline, and giving him the light of his love doth not forsake him. Therefore all their works are as the sun before him, and his eyes are continually upon their ways.”
—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus 17:17-9.