Editing Albert Einstein (section)

==== Relationship with Zionism ====
{{Main|Political views of Albert Einstein#Zionism}}
Einstein was a figurehead leader in the establishment of the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]],<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/science/brace-yourself-here-comes-einsteins-year.html|title=Brace Yourself! Here Comes Einstein's Year|quote=Hebrew University ... which he helped found|author=Dennis Overbye|date=25 January 2005|access-date=27 October 2020|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030232656/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/25/science/brace-yourself-here-comes-einsteins-year.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which opened in 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://en.huji.ac.il/history |website=Hebrew University}}</ref> Earlier, in 1921, he was asked by the biochemist and president of the [[World Zionist Organization]], [[Chaim Weizmann]], to help raise funds for the planned university.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=290}} He made suggestions for the creation of an Institute of Agriculture, a Chemical Institute and an Institute of Microbiology in order to fight the various ongoing epidemics such as [[malaria]], which he called an "evil" that was undermining a third of the country's development.{{sfnp|Rowe|Schulmann|2007|p=161}} He also promoted the establishment of an Oriental Studies Institute, to include language courses given in both [[Hebrew]] and [[Arabic]].{{sfnp|Rowe|Schulmann|2007|p=158}}

Einstein was not a [[nationalist]] and opposed the creation of an independent Jewish state.{{sfnp|Rowe|Schulmann|2007|p=33}} He felt that the waves of arriving Jews of the [[Aliyah]] could live alongside existing Arabs in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. The state of [[Israel]] was established without his help in 1948; Einstein was limited to a marginal role in the [[Zionism|Zionist movement]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Ze'ev |last=Rosenkranz |date=2011 |title=Einstein Before Israel: Zionist Icon Or Iconoclast? |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=4–5 |isbn=978-0-691-14412-2}}</ref> Upon the death of Israeli president Weizmann in November 1952, Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] offered Einstein the largely ceremonial position of [[President of Israel]] at the urging of [[Ezriel Carlebach]].<ref name="Time" /><ref name="Msb2q" /> The offer was presented by Israel's ambassador in Washington, [[Abba Eban]], who explained that the offer {{qi|embodies the deepest respect which the Jewish people can repose in any of its sons}}. Einstein wrote that he was "deeply moved", but "at once saddened and ashamed" that he could not accept it.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=522}}