The Jewish Agency is a general Jewish body that is the executive body of the Zionist movement, which sponsored the immigration of Jews in the Diaspora to Israel, and supervised their integration into the declared state in 1948.
The Jewish Agency began in the days of the British Mandate as a government for the "Zionist settlers" in Palestine, and worked under the protection of the Mandate with the intent of establishing a national home for the Jews, before it was officially recognized in 1922.
The agency transferred the last Jews of Yemen, according to Israeli officials, in 2016, and received thousands of Ukrainian Jews after the Russian war on Ukraine in 2022, and brought in thousands of Jews annually from all over the world.
Birth and founding
The first idea of establishing the Jewish Agency began at the First Zionist Congress in 1897 with the aim of establishing a Jewish company that would constitute a productive economic institution.
After Balfour declared his famous promise in 1917, he began forming a body representing the Zionist movement to facilitate the establishment of the "national home", called the "Zionist Committee in Palestine", and worked side by side with the British administration in governing Palestine, until it became a government within the government of Palestine, and exercised It operates with the approval of Britain under the flag of the League of Nations.
After Palestine was placed under the British Mandate in 1920, Britain and the Zionist movement quickly obtained the approval of the League of Nations, with the aim of obtaining international and official ratification of the Mandate deed.
On July 24, 1922, approval was given for the establishment of a national home for the Jews, and the proposal for the establishment of the Jewish Agency emerged.
Then the Jewish Agency was established in Palestine in 1922, in implementation of Article 4 of the British Mandate instrument, which states that a Jewish agency will be recognized as an advisory body for the administration of Palestine, and the Government of Palestine must recognize it, in order to cooperate with it in economic and social matters, to contribute to the establishment of a national home A Jew in Palestine.
In the twenties of the last century, the head of the Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann, focused on establishing the agency based on Article 4, and headed the organization and the agency.
The Agency succeeded in establishing the Hebrew University during the reign of the former British Zionist delegate Herbert Samuel in 1925.
During the 16th Zionist Congress held in Switzerland on July 29-10 August 1929, it was decided to expand the Jewish Agency, and its objectives were defined as follows:
Increased Jewish immigration to Palestine.
Purchasing Palestinian lands to be public Jewish property is sufficient to enable the settlement movement.
Encouraging agricultural settlement based on Jewish labor.
Spreading the Hebrew language and heritage inside Palestine.
The Jewish Agency began during the British Mandate era as a government of the “Zionist settlers” in Palestine with wide powers, and operated under the protection of the Mandate with the intent of establishing a national home for the Jews by enacting laws and taking measures in its interest, and over time it became in a position to challenge the Mandatory power.
Thought and ideology
Agency's vision: "A different, secure and prosperous Jewish people, united by our heritage and our commitment to Israel, the homeland of the Jewish people and all of its citizens."
The Agency’s message: “The Agency provides the global framework for ‘Aliyah’ (Hebrew means ascension and also means Jewish immigration to the Promised Land), guarantees safety for Jews in the world, strengthens Jewish identity, links Jews to Israel and binds them together, and conveys the voice of the Jewish people to the State of Israel for help. in shaping his community.
Highlights
The agency enjoyed wide powers during the days of the British Mandate in supervising Jewish educational and economic facilities inside Palestine.
The Agency had two executive committees: the first in Jerusalem, concerned with regulating the immigration of Jews to Palestine, regulating their assimilation into settlements, and seeking to establish a military force to protect settlements, including the Haganah “gang,” which was established in 1920.
The second was in London, in order to represent Zionist interests before the British government and its administrative institutions.
Then, after World War II, she established a third executive committee in New York.
The British government and the League of Nations recognized the agency, and sections and institutions of the Jewish organization were transferred to sections under the administration of the Jewish Agency, and the names of the organization and the agency became synonymous with "Jewish Yishuv" (a term meaning in Hebrew for Jewish settlement) in Palestine.
The agency had a major role in establishing the "Jewish Brigade", a British military formation that was established during World War II. At that time, it sought to form an army with a slogan and flag, but Britain refused, and with its insistence, the brigade was formed of 5,000 soldiers, and joined the British army.
In 1947, the two executive committees were unified under the name (The World Zionist Organization - The Jewish Agency).
After the withdrawal of the British Mandate, the Zionist leaders announced the establishment of the "State of Israel" in 1948, and the functions of the Agency and the Jewish Organization became among the tasks of the Israeli government.
On March 11, 1948, the headquarters of the Jewish Agency was detonated with a car bomb prepared by explosives expert Fawzi Al-Qutb, and driven by Antoine Daoud, causing the death of Zionist leaders who were in a meeting inside the Agency.
In 1952, the Knesset approved the separation of the functions of the organization and the agency in law, and declared the authority to continue operating in Israel with the aim of “developing and absorbing immigrants and participating in this with Jewish institutions that are active in these areas.”
In 1971, the Agency was separated from the World Zionist Organization, with the agreement that one head would head them.
In 1979, a charter was signed between the Israeli government and the Agency, stipulating the role of the "Zionist Administration" (the supreme executive institution of the Zionist Organization) in supervising the Agency's activities and activities.
Until 1997, five committees worked in the Agency: the Finance Department, the Immigration and Absorption Department, the Boys and Youth Migration Department, the Rural Settlement Department, and the Residential Neighborhood Renewal Department.
After 1997, work was limited to 4 sections: the section on Israel, the section on Jewish-Zionist education and upbringing, the section on states independent of the (former) Soviet Union, and the section on absorption and immigration.
There is a committee next to each department, composed of agency members and has two chairs: one from Israel and another from the Diaspora Jews, and the heads of the committees are members of the agency's management.
On July 21, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice requested the liquidation of the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency "Sokhnut", which deals with immigration issues to Israel, in response to Tel Aviv's support for Washington in its stance on the war in Ukraine.
In 2020, the Jewish Agency transferred thousands of Ukrainian Jews to Israel (Al-Jazeera)
Flags and symbols
Chaim Weizmann is considered the most famous Zionist figure after Herzl. He played an important role in issuing the Balfour Declaration in 1917, and was president of the World Zionist Organization from 1920 until 1946, then was elected the first president of the State of Israel in 1949.
Weizmann called the international Jewish organizations to meet in 1929 to elect the members of the agency, after agreeing to establish it in the text of the British Mandate.
The meeting was held and the agency was elected and came into existence in the same year and came to speak on behalf of universal Judaism.