Decades of Service to the Jewish People
De Facto Government of the State-on-the Way
As the de facto government of the state-on-the-way, it was recognized as the official representative of the Jewish community and world Jewry vis a vis the League of Nations, the British Mandate government, and foreign governments. its major political thrust was to influence the British Mandate administration to interpret liberally the clause in the Churchill White Paper of 1922, which linked Jewish immigration to the "economic absorptive capacity" of the country. The Jewish Agency was also responsible for the Yishuv's internal affairs: immigration - allocating certificates supplied by the Mandate Authority - and resettlement of new immigrants, the building of new settlements, economic development, education and culture, hospitals and health services.
The Arab Revolt
The Passfield White Paper, issued in the aftermath of the riots, stated that the development of a Jewish National Home in Palestine was not central to the Mandate. Together with other institutions, the Jewish Agency was severely criticized for promoting Jewish labor exclusively. The White Paper further stated that there was not enough cultivable land to support new immigrants, and called for the restriction of Jewish immigration. However, in response to a major campaign by the Zionist movement, the White Paper was effectively abrogated.
Efforts to Rescue Jews
In face of renewed Arab rioting in 1936, the
Peel Commission (1936-7) called for the partition of Palestine, recommending transfer of populations. However, while this recommendation was subsequently dropped as being not practicable, terrorist attacks against Jewish settlements and clashes with the British forces intensified.
The British administration surrendered to Arab demands by drastically cutting the Jewish immigration quota for 1936 by
In 1931, the Hagana became subordinate to the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with the Va'ad Le'umi (the supreme institution of the organized Jewish community in Palestine (founded in 1920). During the years of the Arab Revolt, the Hagana protected the establishment of scores of new Stockade and Watchtower settlements in the Jordan Valley and Galilee, built as strongholds to withstand Arab attacks and strategically defending the Jewish settlers. The Arab violence came to an end in large measure due to Special Night Squads of Jewish volunteers that resisted the attackers, and a period of relative peace returned to the Yishuv.
The Holocaust and restrictions on immigration
When World War II broke out, the Jewish Agency set up a committee to help European Jewry by obtaining immigration certificates to Palestine for them, sending them food parcels, and maintaining contact with them. Simultaneously, the Jewish Agency fought the White Paper restrictions by organizing "illegal" immigration from Europe. David Ben-Gurion, who had served as Chairman of the Executive since 1935, rallied the Yishuv to help in the Allied war effort, calling on the residents "to fight the White Paper as though there were no war and to fight the war as though there were no White Paper." The post-war period
The Struggle for StatehoodThe end of the war brought the Agency to the forefront of the struggle for statehood. Under the leadership of the Jewish Agency an agreement was signed in October, 1945, between the Hagana, Irgun, and Lehi to establish the United Resistance Movement, which included joint operations against the British. Defiance of British authorities led to the arrest of members of the Jewish Agency Executive, along with thousands of other leading figures in the Yishuv, on Saturday, June 29, 1946 (what became known as Black Sabbath. The British also entered the Jewish Agency buildings and confiscated a large number of records, including documents that demonstrated the Agency's role in the leadership of the United Resistance Movement. Starting in 1946 the Jewish Agency recruited the Hagana to defend all Jewish settlements and neighborhoods; it also set up the Palmach commando units and took on the task of procuring weapons, ammunition, etc. Independence Following the UN vote to partition Palestine on November 29, 1947, the Jewish Agency and the Va'ad Leumi set up a National Council and a National Administration, which, with the declaration of independence, became the State of Israel's provisional legislature and government. David Ben-Gurion, Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, became Prime Minister. With the establishment of the state in May 1948, the Jewish Agency relinquished many of its functions to the new government, but retained responsibility for immigration, land settlement, youth work, and relations with world Jewry. This was confirmed by the World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency (Status) Law adopted by the Knesset on November 24, 1952. On July 26, 1954 a formal covenant was signed between the Israeli government and the World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency, recognizing the latter as the representative of world Jewry with regard to the above functions.
Ingathering of the Exiles
Aliyah from Eastern Europe and North Africa resumed in 1955-57 and 1961-64. Immigrants were sent directly to permanent homes in villages or development towns.
Operation Moses In 1984, brought 9,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel
In the first two decades of the state's existence the Jewish Agency established a wide variety of companies to develop the country's cultural and economic infrastructure. These include the national airline, El Al, Mekorot, the water supply company, land development companies, agricultural companies, real estate management companies, Binyanei HaOoma, the national theatre and convention center, museums, and others. The Department for Education and Culture in the Diaspora and the parallel Department of Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora were established to help replace the loss of centers of Jewish learning destroyed in the Holocaust: they trained Hebrew teachers, sent Israelis abroad to supplement local personnel in schools, camps, and youth organizations, and trained shohatim, mohalim, and hazzanim from Diaspora communities. The Department of Agricultural Settlement established 480 new villages after 1948, providing them with equipment, livestock, and irrigation installations, as well as expert instruction. Their aggregate production in the late 1960s constituted 70% of the country's total agricultural output.
The Jewish Agency today
The world Jewish community participates in the Jewish Agency's decision-making process through the Assembly, its supreme governing body, and its Board of Governors, which is responsible for policy making and oversight.
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For almost 75 years, the Jewish Agency for Israel has been synonymous with the efforts to rescue Jews at risk and the resettlement of the Jewish people in its homeland. The history of the Jewish Agency in the pre-state era is inseparable from that of the Yishuv . In the early years of the state, the Jewish Agency's role was paramount in setting up an economic and cultural infrastructure for the country, still struggling for survival. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the Jewish Agency has facilitated the aliyah and absorption in Israel over one million new immigrants - the equivalent of the United States absorbing the entire population of France!! Today, too, the Jewish Agency's role remains central to countless Jews the world over as it continues to provide vital services in Israel and to the global Jewish community.
The Jewish Agency was established by the World Zionist Organization at the 16th Zionist Congress, in August 11, 1929 as a partnership between the WZO and non-Zionist Jewish leaders, among them such luminaries as
Fearing economic domination by the Zionists, on August 23, Arabs began rioting and looting throughout Palestine. The violence, which started in Jerusalem, spread as far as Hebron and Safed. 133 Jews were killed, with more than 300 wounded.
With the growing persecution of Jews in Germany after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the number of immigrants to Palestine began to increase - going from 4,075 in 1931 to 37,337 in 1933 to a record 66,472 in 1935. Approximately 50,000 Jews emigrated to Palestine under the
more than two-thirds. Furthermore, the
As the plight of European Jewry worsened, the restrictions on immigration generated an "illegal" immigration movement. During the 1930s various efforts were made to transport "illegal" immigrants by sea, primarily by the
After the war, a Jewish Agency delegation visited the DP camps to provide relief. The Mossad resumed large-scale sea operations to rescue the 250,000 survivors who had escaped from Eastern Europe to various Mediterranean shores through the
In 1949 the Jewish Agency brought 239,000 Holocaust survivors from DP camps in Europe and from detention camps on Cyprus to the Jewish homeland. They were provided with housing, instruction in Hebrew, vocational training, etc. to help them build new lives.
That same year, the Jewish Agency airlifted 3,800 Yemenite Jews to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet. In 1950-1 some 343,000 newcomers arrived from Eastern Europe and North Africa. In 1951, 110,000 Iraqi Jews were evacuated in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. Nearly the whole of Bulgarian Jewry, more than half the Jews of Yugoslavia, 40,000 Jews from Turkey,and 18,000 Jews from Iran, came to Israel during those first three years. During the first four years of its existence, while struggling for survival, the country absorbed over 700,000 immigrants! The need for temporary housing resulted in the establishment of ma'abarot or transit camps. The number of people living in these facilities reached a peak at the end of 1951: 220,517.
In 1991, over 14,300 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in 36 hours in Operation Solomon.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, close to one million Jews have come to Israel from the former Soviet Union.
Other activities 
The Jewish Agency has been pivotal to Israel's remarkable growth. As the only global Jewish partnership organization, linking Jews around the world with Israel as the focal point, it continues to play a central role in the lives of countless Jews. Major activities include the rescue of Jews in distress, facilitating aliyah and absorption, Jewish Zionist education, and building a global Jewish community. In addition to extensive programs in Israel, it operates in close to 80 countries on five continents through a network of over 450 emissaries, including hundreds of formal and informal educators. In 2002 its annual budget was $403 million.