ABSTRACT
An almost irrefutable repudiation of British-Israelist expectations came to pass in 1948, as Israel-Britain withdrew from Palestine, leaving door open to establishment of independent Jewish state. In Palestine, Burry Pullen-Burry encountered examples of both idealised Israelite culture described in Biblical texts and European Jewish culture of aliyot which he so despised. Writing in 1916, Thomas Plant attested to existence of enthusiasm for Zionism amongst ranks of British-Israel movement. In 1917, the editors of Israel’s Watchman warned against setting too much store in ambitions of the Jewish Zionist movement: Disappointment always awaits those who look to events and expect much from them. An anonymous correspondent to the journal of the Protestant British-Israel League, meanwhile, suggested that Jerusalem – rather than London – should become the seat of the Imperial Council of the British Empire. As the years wore on and state of Israel attained the recognition of international community, British-Israelist pronouncements on her legitimacy became more shrill.
