Editing Balfour Declaration (section)

=== Rights and political status of Jews in other countries ===

[[File:The Anti-Semitism of the Present Government, Edwin Montagu, 23 August 1917.jpg|thumb|[[Edwin Montagu]], then the only Jew in a senior British government position,{{sfn|Schneer|2010|p=193}} wrote a 23 August 1917 memorandum condemning Zionism as a "mischievous political creed" and stating his belief that: "the policy of His Majesty's Government is anti-Semitic in result and will prove a rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country of the world."]]
The second safeguard clause was a commitment that nothing should be done which might prejudice the rights of the Jewish communities in other countries outside of Palestine.{{sfn|Schneer|2010|p=336}} The original drafts of Rothschild, Balfour, and Milner did not include this safeguard, which was drafted together with the preceding safeguard in early October,{{sfn|Schneer|2010|p=336}} in order to reflect opposition from influential members of the Anglo-Jewish community.{{sfn|Schneer|2010|p=336}} Lord Rothschild took exception to the proviso on the basis that it presupposed the possibility of a danger to non-Zionists, which he denied.{{sfn|Ingrams|2009|p=13}}

The Conjoint Foreign Committee of the [[Board of Deputies of British Jews]] and the [[Anglo-Jewish Association]] had published a letter in ''[[The Times]]'' on 24 May 1917 entitled ''Views of Anglo-Jewry'', signed by the two organisations' presidents, [[David Lindo Alexander]] and [[Claude Montefiore]], stating their view that: "the establishment of a Jewish nationality in Palestine, founded on this theory of homelessness, must have the effect throughout the world of stamping the Jews as strangers in their native lands, and of undermining their hard-won position as citizens and nationals of these lands."{{sfn|Lieshout|2016|p=214}} This was followed in late August by [[Edwin Montagu]], an influential [[anti-Zionist]] Jew and [[Secretary of State for India]], and the only Jewish member of the British Cabinet, who wrote in a Cabinet memorandum that: "The policy of His Majesty's Government is anti-Semitic in result and will prove a rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country of the world."{{sfn|Makdisi|2010|p=239}}