On this year’s centennial of the Balfour Declaration, both Lord Arthur Balfour and the legacy of the Declaration should be remembered, writes Mike Fegelman in a commentary published in the Winnipeg Free Press. Fegelman is the executive director of Honest Reporting Canada, a non-profit organization that works to ensure that the media’s coverage of Israel is fair and accurate.

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Fegelman’s essay singles out Canadians For Balfour 100 for praise. “An important organization called Canadians For Balfour 100 is in the vanguard in promoting this historic milestone. Composed of distinguished experts in international law, former diplomats, and prominent businesspeople, the organization serves to educate the world about the irrefutable legal rights afforded to the Jewish people that emerged following the issuance of the Balfour Declaration.”

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 “The declaration represented a national commitment by the British government for Zionist aspirations in Palestine,” Fegelman notes, “which ultimately laid the groundwork for Israel’s founding, without which the Jewish state may never have been created.”

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In a longer version of his essay, Fegelman defends Balfour from claims by writer Michael Coren , who had stated in a column in the Free Press that Balfour “was repulsed by the idea of a country full of Jews”. Coren cited the noted British historian Sir Martin Gilbert as the source of the comment, in a personal conversation.  Balfour is generally considered a Christian Zionist who was close to Chaim Weizmann, who went on to become Israel’s first president.

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Both versions of Fegelman’s essay can be read at http://www.honestreporting.ca/hrc-commentary-in-winnipeg-free-press-balfour-declarations-centenary-a-historic-moment/17715