Many influential figures in Britain thought that the Jews controlled the world, an illusion which Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader, worked assiduously to sustain.

ECONOMIST: Britain??s mandate in Palestine

In 1916 Chaim Weizmann, who later became Israel's first president, worked out how to use chestnuts to solve the lack of acetone, a component of the cordite needed by the British navy to repel German U-boat attacks in the first world war.

ECONOMIST: The Atlantic Ocean

Netanyahu argued that the tragedy of Zionism is that the leaders who took over after Herzl's death - first and foremost Ahad Ha'am and Chaim Weizmann - lacked the courage to demand the rights of their nation, preferring to be loved than respected.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Professor Netanyahu's lessons