British-Israel-World Federation

The British-Israel-World Federation, also known as the British-Israel World Federation, is an organization based in the United Kingdom that advocates for British Israelism. This is the belief that the people of the British Isles are the direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. The federation was established in London on 3 July 1919, though its origins lie in the 19th century. It brought together around 80 independent groups from the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Background

HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, served as the federation’s main patron. She attended its first Congress in July 1920 and remained a patron until her death in January 1981. One of the founders was Reuben H. Sawyer, a clergyman from Portland, Oregon, who had established an Anglo-Israelism group there and also led the Oregon Ku Klux Klan. Sawyer spoke at the federation’s first conference in 1920.

His supremacist views helped shape the anti-Semitic Christian Identity movement, which grew out of the philo-Semitic British Israelism. William Pascoe Goard was involved in early negotiations to form the federation and became its vice president in 1921. In 1922, he founded Covenant Publishing, the federation’s publishing arm, and served as the first editor of The National Message, which was published until 1981. The federation now publishes The Covenant Nations magazine.

From 1924, the organization maintained an office next to Buckingham Palace. It moved to Putney on the Thames in 1990, and since 2003 has been based near Bishop Auckland in County Durham.

Beliefs

British Israelism, also called Anglo-Israelism, holds that people of Western European descent, especially those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes. The doctrine often includes the claim that the British royal family descends directly from King David. These central tenets have been refuted by evidence from modern genetic, archaeological, ethnological, and linguistic research.

International endeavors

The federation has expanded internationally, with branches in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Netherlands.

Its patrons have included HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (1919–1981); the Countess-Dowager of Radnor; the Duke of Buccleugh; Lord Gisborough; Lord St.