An Old Welsh Source Traces the Irish to Israel
Continued from Gerald on Ireland
"He Bartholome the chief of the 30 ships had his name from a river of Spain called Eirinnal, on the banks of which they had lived. This chief related to the king the whole of their adventures, from the time they had arrived from Israel (Palestine) their original country, and the manner and circumstances in which their ancestors dwelt in a retired part of Spain, near Eirnia, from whence the Spaniards drove them to sea to seek another abode".
-quoted from Raymond F. McNair, 1963, p.240. ( "Key To Northwest European Origins", Unpublished Thesis, California, U.S.A., 1963).
Note the above sentences:
"Gwrgan(r)t....directed them [Bartholomew and company]..to go to Ireland, which at that time lay waste and uninhabited. ...and there they settled..; and there their descendants are to this day in Ireland."
"He Bartholome .. had his name from a river of Spain called Eirinnal, on the banks of which they had lived.....they had arrived from Israel (Palestine) their original country, and ...their ancestors dwelt in a retired part of Spain, near Eirnia, from whence the Spaniards drove them to sea..
"Bartholomew" or "Partholomew" is also mentioned in Irish accounts as leader of one of the first groups who settled in Ireland. In the account of Roberts above it says expressly that "Israel (Palestine)" was "their original country".
This version that McNair found in Roberts needs to be confirmed.
It may be mistaken.
Nevertheless it seems consistent with other sources, e.g.
Albyne who led a great fleet from Syria in to Britain ...Brutus who led a powerful fleet from the Dardanelles [Turkey] to Britain in c 504 BC. ...