How to build a country? Philanthropy and capitalist methods in the financing of Zionism

ABSTRACT In this article, I identify two ideological currents within the Zionist movement, a philanthropic one and a capitalist one. Institutionally, the philanthropic current manifested through Keren Ha-Yesod and the capitalist one through the two Zionist banks, the Jewish Colonial Trust and the Anglo-Palestine Company. Despite the different ideologies and modes of operation associated with these financing institutions, the three of them were in fact tightly connected and at certain junctures dependent on each other for their survival. The economic context in which the financing institutions of Zionism operated determined their relative strength within their relationship, whereas ideology played a secondary role.