Though Albert Einstein became a passionate Zionist (partly in response to Germany's growing anti-Semitism) he also expressed concern about the rights of Arabs in any Jewish state.
He later spent the last day of his life drafting a speech to mark the anniversary of Israel's independence; perhaps fittingly, he died of a stroke.
[Einstein was offered the presidency of the new state of Israel in 1952. He declined. "Politics is for the moment," he once remarked, "while... an equation is for eternity."]
Sources
American Institute of Physics Handbook; Time 100
