Louis Brandeis

Jurist and Zionist

US-born jurist Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856-1941) made these remarks in 1915. He formally led the US Zionist movement between 1914 until 1916 when he joined the US Supreme Court. It is understood that Brandeis approached the Wilson White House urging it to reverse its initial opposition to a proposed British statement on Zionism. Wilson's reluctance stemmed partly from the fact that while the US entered WWI in April 1917, it did not declare war on the Ottoman Empire.

Let no American imagine that Zionism is inconsistent with patriotism. Multiple loyalties are objectionable only if they are inconsistent… Every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there, will likewise be a better man and a better American for doing so. There is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry.

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