Chaim Weizmann: "The Forgotten Hero"

By DROR BEN AMI
Photo: Chaim Weizmann: 1st President of the State of Israel,
Public Domain 
You know, it is very nice for us to sit in Israel today, finally approaching the standard of living of most first world countries, and think about all our great accomplishments; but once there was a time when there was no Israel. Herzl was dead and most rabbis were following in the footsteps of their ancient predecessors and turning their backs on both God and Moses by declaring there was no need to live in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In fact, they went so far as to excommunicate these three men and the original leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel (actually 13 tribes) as well. These men were not Jews the rabbis claimed; they did not study the Talmud! These men were: “Noahides” , members of a religion that NEVER existed except in the minds of the power greedy rabbis. Not only were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his 12 sons ex-communicated, but the rabbis also took the outlandish step of expelling Moses, almost entirely, from the story of the Exodus found in the Haggadah. As I have pointed out in many other articles: "If God commanded the rabbis to tell the story of Apple Computer every year, would they leave out Steve Jobs?"
But, let’s forget what happened 3,000 years ago and turn to something a little bit more recent, shall we?
On the 28th of July, 1914 the states of Europe entered into a war which everyone thought would be over by Christmas….
But it did not end and the Germans had captured the only known sources of acetone, a vital ingredient in the manufacturing of artillery shells. Once the Allies realized what had happened and that they only had approximately 4 months of artillery shells left in their arsenals, panic began to set in. The horrors of the Battle of the Somme were still far in the future, a battle in which the Great Britain alone would suffer close to 60,000 casualties, 20,000 of which were dead, and all IN ONE DAY !!! But that was with artillery support….How many soldiers would have been killed if the Allies did not have artillery? Actually, probably much less, because the war would have ended in 1915, with a German victory, if it had not been for the chemist Chaim Weizmann.
In short: made aware of the problem by the British army, Weizmann entered his laboratory and within a period of 2 or 3 months perfected a process in which large quantities of acetone could be distilled from corn. Later, others would claim that they had distilled acetone from corn before Weizmann, but they had only succeeded in producing one or two kilos. What Weizmann did was to perfect a process which manufactured tons of the stuff…
This process Weizmann developed changed the course of the war and, it was for this invaluable contribution to the war effort, a contribution which saved tens of thousands of British lives, that Balfour agreed to sign the Balfour declaration which directly led to a mandate from the League of Nations in 1923/24 establishing: “A Jewish Homeland”.
And where was David Ben Gurion during this time? Was he helping Jabotinsky and Trumpledor establish “The Jewish Legion”? Did he participate in the Battle of Gallipoli? No, David Ben Gurion was organizing a group of 40 Jews to fight for the Ottomans AGAINST Jabotinsky, Trumpeldor and the Jewish Legion, also known as: “The Zionist Mule Corps”. After that he then went to the United States and sat out the war giving speeches….
I mention this because this same David Ben Gurion, supporter of the Ottoman Empire, refused to allow the body of Lieutenant Jabotinsky, who was also awarded: "The Order of the British Empire" for his service during the war (and who was a combat veteran), to be returned to Israel for burial.
But, that is another story and we are here to talk about Chaim Weizmann, not Jabotinsky…
In 1947, as almost everyone knows, there was an enormous political battle being fought between the Zionists and the Arab/Islamic supporters. Although he was 73 years old at the time and had declared he was no longer interested in the political back stabbing and intrigue of the World Zionist Organization, Weizmann agreed to leave his home in Rehovot and fly to New York in order to carry the Zionist banner and lead the charge into battle for establishing a Jewish state.
As we all know, he was successful, but what is less well known is that David Ben Gurion, who did practically nothing to get the state of Israel recognized, declared that ONLY those people who were actually “in the Land” at the moment the declaration of statehood  was made, would be allowed to sign the declaration.
 
Naturally, since Chaim Weizmann was in New York making sure that there indeed was a state, he could not be in two places at one time. Nevertheless, David Ben Gurion insisted that Chaim Weizmann NOT be allowed to sign the document when he returned home.
During World War II, Churchill famously declared about the pilots of Great Britian that: “Never had so many owed so much to so few”….
Nice words, but when we recall Weizmann’s contribution to World War I, it would far more accurate to say: “Never had so many owed so much to one man….”
But, having said that, I think it is only just to point out that Chaim Weizmann’s son was a British pilot during World War II and he was killed in action fighting the Nazis….
As far as I know, Ottoman supporter: David Ben Gurion NEVER raised a finger against the Nazis, nor did any member of his family (but I could be wrong about his family).
That Chaim Weizmann also went on to establish the Weizmann Institute, and Hebrew University, is also nothing to sneeze at….
(I think David Ben Gurion opened a bar/restaurant named: “Paula’s” on Rehov Ben Yehuda….but I’m not sure)
Most people in Israel today know nothing about Chaim Weizmann, it’s a pity….