A Group of Ten Chenille Rugs, Alliance Israelite Universelle School, Jerusalem

machine woven weaves, depicting various Zionist figures, including Theodor Herzl, Lord Balfour, Chaim Weizmann, Max Nordau, Sir Herbert Samuel, and an unknown soldier

Anton Felton, Jewish Carpets, Suffolk, 1997, nos. 9 -18, pp. 72 - 80, all illustrated

Considered the first modern Jewish organization, The Alliance Israelite Universelle was founded in Paris in 1860, as a response to the Damascus affair of 1840 and the Mortara case in 1858. Their manifesto stated the Alliance would "serve as a most important stimulus to Jewish regeneration" and emphasized the need for solidarity on Jewish matters. The aims were "to work everywhere for the emancipation and moral progress of the Jews; to offer effective assistance to Jews suffering from anti-Semitism; and to encourage all publications calculated to promote this aim".  Schools were established throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, eventually expanding its educational programs to include France, Canada, Spain, and Belgium. (see: Encyclopaedia Judaica vol. 2:648)