Jewish Agency for Palestine in the context of "Menachem Begin"

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⭐ Core Definition: Jewish Agency for Palestine

The Jewish Agency for Israel (Hebrew: הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל, romanized: HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Eretz Yisra'el), formerly known as the Jewish Agency for Palestine, is the largest Jewish non-profit organization in the world. It was established in 1929 as the operative branch of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

As an organization, it encourages immigration of Jews in diaspora to the Land of Israel, and oversees their integration with the State of Israel. Since 1948, the Jewish Agency claims to have brought 3 million immigrants to Israel, where it offers them transitional housing in "absorption centers" throughout the country. David Ben-Gurion served as the chairman of its executive committee from 1935, and in this capacity on 14 May 1948, he proclaimed Israel's independence, following which he served as the first Israeli prime minister. In the years preceding the founding of Israel, the Jewish Agency oversaw the establishment of about 1,000 towns and villages in the British Mandate of Palestine. The organization serves as the main link between Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

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👉 Jewish Agency for Palestine in the context of Menachem Begin

Menachem Begin (16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician who founded Herut and Likud and served as prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983.

Before the creation of the state of Israel, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine, with a notable attack being the King David Hotel bombing. Later, the Irgun fought the Arabs during the 1947–48 civil war in Mandatory Palestine and, as its chief, Begin was described by the British government as the "leader of the notorious terrorist organisation". It declined him an entry visa to the United Kingdom between 1953 and 1955. However, Begin's overtures of friendship eventually paid off and he was granted a visa in 1972, five years prior to becoming prime minister.

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Jewish Agency for Palestine in the context of Israeli Declaration of Independence

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (Hebrew: הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the civil war phase and beginning of the international phase of the 1948 Palestine war, by David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organization and chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.

It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine (or the Land of Israel in the Jewish tradition), to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day. The event is celebrated annually in Israel as Independence Day, a national holiday on 5 Iyar of every year according to the Hebrew calendar. Palestinians view the declaration of independence as marking the start of the Nakba and commemorate it annually on May 15 as Nakba Day.

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Jewish Agency for Palestine in the context of Operation Cast Thy Bread

Operation Cast Thy Bread was a top-secret biological warfare operation conducted by the Haganah and later the Israel Defense Forces which began in April 1948, during the 1948 Palestine war. The Haganah used typhoid bacteria to contaminate drinking water wells in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Its objective was to frighten and prevent Palestinian Arabs from returning to villages captured by the Yishuv and make conditions difficult for Arab armies attempting to retake territories. The operation resulted in severe illness among local Palestinian citizens. In the final months of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Israel gave orders to expand the biological warfare campaign into neighboring Arab states such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, but they were not carried out. Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion and IDF chief of general staff Yigael Yadin oversaw and approved the use of biological warfare.

Abba Eban, representative of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, strongly denied the operation and sought to block further investigations by accusing the Arab states of engaging in "antisemitic incitement". Operation Cast Thy Bread did not achieve the crippling effects its advocates had hoped for, and was discontinued by December 1948. In July 1948, the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee reported to the United Nations several war crimes committed by Zionist forces, including the use of "bacteriological warfare".

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Israeli Declaration of Independence ← Menachem Begin ← Operation Cast Thy Bread
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Hebrew language → Romanization of Hebrew → Jews → World Zionist Organization → Jewish diaspora → Land of Israel → Israel → David Ben-Gurion → Israeli Declaration of Independence → List of prime ministers of Israel → Mandatory Palestine →