The Marquess of Reading and his wife have decided to take Israeli citizenship — a move he says is “needed now more than ever”.

Lord Reading, who is not Jewish but a passionate supporter of Israel, told the JC he hoped to secure full citizenship in October when he next visits the country.

“We will sign the requisite papers and then we will receive our Israeli passports,” he said.

The marquess is the great-grandson of Alfred Mond, later the first Baron Melchett, an industrialist active in early Zionist politics. Mond’s daughter Eva — the present Lord Reading’s grandmother — was even more of an active Zionist. She married the second Marquess of Reading and for periods between the 1920s and the 1970s lived in a house known as the Villa Melchett on the Sea of Galilee where she entertained the likes of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann.

“My grandmother became chair of the British section of the World Jewish Congress,” said Lord Reading, adding that she was “a notable Zionist” and that he “hoped to carry the baton for her”. The first Marquess of Reading, Rufus Isaacs, for whom the title was created, was Jewish — the marquisate was the highest title in the British peerage ever attained by a Jew.

But Eva, who married his son, was baptised into her mother’s Anglican faith — even though her father was Jewish. But in 1933 Eva converted to Judaism.

The present Marquess, Simon, Lord Reading, wants to emulate his grandmother by using Villa Melchett as a base for bringing like-minded supporters to Israel.

The villa is no longer in family hands, but Lord Reading has become friends with its present owners, the Eisenberg family.

Even the recent fighting in the region has not deterred Lord Reading, a banker and philanthropist who is now “even more determined” to take citizenship.

He added that his wife, Melinda, (known as Mindy), who is also taking citizenship, “is 100 per cent behind me — she’s caught the vision, too”.

His family also support the move, said the marquess. “We should display our heritage. In a way, I am reconnecting with my Jewish roots.”