Chaim Weizman and General Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby with the two chief rabbis in Jerusalem in 1919. Chaim Azriel Weizmann (27 November 1874 - 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as president of the Zionist Organization and later as the first president of Israel. Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (23 April 1861 - 14 May 1936) was an English soldier and British Imperial Governor. He led the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the conquest of Palestine