The situation that encouraged the British government to issue the Balfour Declaration in 1917 was:
Russia's continued involvement in the war was uncertain.
Russia's exit from the war in 1917 created a power vacuum in the Middle East, where the Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany. Britain hoped to gain support from Jewish people around the world in exchange for British recognition of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This led to the issuance of the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, in which the British government declared its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine