Today, in 1929, the organization of the Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel was created.
With the formation of the Zionist movement, its activities were included in the organization of the World Zionist Organization. After the establishment of the British Mandate and the growth of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel, the need arose to establish an administrative executive authority that would represent the Jewish community (and not the Zionists of the whole world), and to maintain continuous contact with the Mandate authorities. For this purpose, Chaim Weizmann founded the Jewish Agency organization during the years 1927-1928, in cooperation with some of the Jewish Diaspora leadership.
The agency was officially established in August 1929, when Dr. Weizmann was appointed president. The agency included 4 executive branches – a foreign department, a security department, an education department, and an immigration department. The agency actually formed a government, and the chairman of the agency was the central decision-maker of the Jewish settlement – when starting in 1935, David Ben-Gurion held this position. Therefore his transition to the position of the first prime minister was natural.
After the establishment of the state, most of the agency’s powers were transferred to the government, and since then it has mainly dealt with settlement support and initiatives, encouraging immigration, strengthening ties between Israel and the Diaspora, and strengthening Israeli society internally. Today the agency is headed by General Doron Almog.
