Lord Balfour
Lord Balfour [centre], Weizman [third-from-right, behind Sokolow] & Sokolow [second-from-right], in Tel-Aviv. Nisan 5685. Published by Eliahu Bros—Jaffa & Tel-Aviv.
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In the spring of 1925, Lord Balfour travelled to the Yishuv to attend the official opening of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He arrived in the city on 25 March 1925. The following day, accompanied by Chaim Weizmann in his capacity as President of the World Zionist Organization and Nahum Sokolow as the chair of its executive, as well as the chair of the Palestine Zionist Executive, Frederick Kisch, he travelled to Tel Aviv, stopping at Motza, Kiryat Anavim, Rishon LeZion and Mikveh Israel on the way. Following a rousing speech given at the Herzl Gymnasium (Highschool), he attended a concert arranged in his honour and then went on an extended unscheduled walkabout. The following morning, he visited the diesel-powered Rutenberg Electricity Plant located in what is now the Gan HaHashmal (hashmal is the Hebrew word for electricity) and a number of other industrial projects. He then returned to Jerusalem.
While the enthusiasm with which Balfour was welcomed by the Jewish population seems to have been genuine enough, the Arabs responded to Balfour’s arrival with a general strike and the Arab papers were published with black borders to mark the occasion. According to The Times of London, only the Arabs in the cities participated in the strike and they failed to bring the transport sector to a standstill. “The Arabs appear to be quite satisfied with the result of the day’s effort”, The Times explained. “They felt that they had to do something to show that hostility to the British policy was not confined to the agitators among them … It must be admitted that compared with the previous occasions on which the Arabs have protested there has been a remarkable absence of tension, and, in fact, on all sides good temper has reigned. To sum up, to-day’s Arab protests have been more in sorrow than in anger.”
The brothers Matityahu and Yossef Eliyahu were originally from Corfu. They ran the largest postcard business in the Yishuv prior to the Second World War. One of their competitors, Moshe Ordmann, produced a series of at least eight different colourized postcards showing scenes from Balfour’s visit.
