Jan Smuts was a signatory to the Balfour Declaration, a friend of ChaimWeizmann, first President of the State of Israel, and personally fund-raised for Zionist organisations and lobbied against the 1939 White Paper. Several streets in Israel and Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan were named after him. His government gave de facto recognition to Israel on 24 May 1948. See also statue by Ivan Mitford Barberton in front of Iziko Slave Lodge.
