We discussed the upcoming centennial celebration of the Balfour Declaration, the 100-year-old document that had a profound impact on the creation of the State of Israel.

Jager said that in President Abbas’s call for an apology, he’s demanding the United Kingdom repent for the “original sin” of assisting in the creation of the entire State of Israel.

The Balfour Declaration was a small document written by Arthur Balfour, the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom in 1917. The Balfour Declaration was the first official document of any country to recognize the right of the Jewish people to a national homeland in what is now known as Israel. This concise, and to-the-point document became the foundational wording upon which the international community would grant permission for the creation of a Jewish state.

The celebration of the Balfour Declaration has been met with some recent opposition. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas demanded an apology from the United Kingdom for the Balfour Declaration and vowed to sue the British government from his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

Jager made an interesting point on the radio show when he said the Palestinian push for an apology from the United Kingdom isn’t so much about issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or the two-state solution, or the disputed land in the West Bank, or even settlement building. Jager said that in President Abbas’s call for an apology, he’s demanding the United Kingdom repent for the “original sin” of assisting in the creation of the entire State of Israel. For Abbas, the whole nation of Israel is the problem, not just the current issues many world leaders consider obstacles to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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