{"id":4559,"date":"2021-11-30T12:44:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-30T12:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new2022.foz.co.il\/?p=4559"},"modified":"2022-06-26T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-26T10:50:00","slug":"jan-christian-smuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fozmuseum.com\/blog\/jan-christian-smuts\/","title":{"rendered":"General Jan Christian Smuts \u2013 A True Friend Of Zion"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4559\" class=\"elementor elementor-4559\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-935f821 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"935f821\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-6c88dfd\" data-id=\"6c88dfd\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5ebe034 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5ebe034\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>General Jan Christian Smuts, was a South African Statesman, military leader and philosopher and a committed\u00a0Christian Zionist. What is not generally known, is that while most of those associated with the Balfour declaration have received recognition, one name has not usually been included and that was the highly intelligent and articulate General Smuts who was an integral, though anonymous, figure in the creation of the Balfour Declaration and later on diplomatic recognition of\u00a0the State of Israel. Specific details of the role Smuts played in the preparation of the\u00a0Balfour declaration\u00a0are not clear as it seemed his part was more behind the scenes and involved in drafting the document but he was, without doubt, one of the driving forces behind this historic document. Chaim Weizmann was quoted as saying that without Smuts there would have been no Balfour Declaration.<\/p><p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4564\" src=\"https:\/\/fozmuseum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Common_wealth_PrimeMinisters.jpg\" alt=\"General Jan Christian Smuts\" width=\"640\" height=\"470\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fozmuseum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Common_wealth_PrimeMinisters.jpg 640w, https:\/\/fozmuseum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Common_wealth_PrimeMinisters-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/fozmuseum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Common_wealth_PrimeMinisters-150x110.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><p>Smuts had always had close friendships with many in the South African Jewish Community and in June 1917 he met Chaim Weizmann which began a lifelong friendship of 33 years. They enjoyed each other\u2019s company, were compatible intellectually and together they shared a vision of a home for the Jews, he also shared this strong conviction with both Lloyd George the British Prime Minister and his Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour. Both Weizmann and Smuts shared the belief that because Palestine was the Biblical home of the Jews, it was historically justified that it should be natural that this was the place which should be chosen.<\/p><p>Jan Smuts was born on a farm in the Cape Colony and until the age of 12, when he started school, he lived the life of a typical South African farm boy. Despite the late age he started school he matriculated very early and at 16 began studies in science and arts at the University of Stellenbosch (at that time it was called Victoria College), obtaining first class honors in both. \u00a0During his time in Stellenbosch Smuts met and fell in love with Isie Krige.<\/p><p>In 1891 he received a scholarship to Christ\u2019s College, Cambridge, where he read law and was generally recognized as one of the most brilliant law students ever to have studied at Cambridge. After completing his studies Jan Smuts went to London where he came first in the Inns of Court Honors examination. He returned to South Africa in 1895 and in 1897 married his lifelong companion Isie Krige.<\/p><p><strong>Jan Smuts was elected Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919-1924 and then again from 1939 \u2013 1948.<\/strong><\/p><p><strong>Smuts personally fundraised for many\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Zionist<\/strong><strong>\u00a0organizations during his Premiership. His government granted\u00a0<em>de facto<\/em>\u00a0recognition to\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Israel<\/strong><strong>\u00a0on 24 May 1948 just days before his party was voted out of power.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Jan Christian Smuts, was a South African Statesman, military leader and philosopher and a committed\u00a0Christian Zionist. What is not generally known, is that while most of those associated with the Balfour declaration have received recognition, one name has not usually been included and that was the highly intelligent and articulate General Smuts who was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>General Jan Christian Smuts \u2013 A True Friend Of Zion | Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"General Jan Christian Smuts, was a South African Statesman, military leader and philosopher and a committed Christian Zionist\" 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