The Jewish National Council (JNC; Hebrew: ועד לאומי, Va'ad Le'umi), also known as the Jewish People's Council was the main national executive organ of the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish community (Yishuv) within Mandatory Palestine. Its responsibilities included education, culture, local government, welfare, healthcare, religious service, security and defense.^[1] Since 1928 it was also the official representative of the Yishuv to the British Mandate government. Established in 1920, it operated until 1948, when its functions were passed to the newly-established state of Israel.

The JNC, established in 1920 in order to conduct Jewish communal affairs, was created along with the Assembly of Representatives, whose members selected from among themselves the members of the National Council. The first Assembly consisted of 314 elected Representatives. The first chairman of the JNC was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. The Histadrut and the Haganah were also founded in 1920. Jewish communal affairs were generally conducted through a hierarchy of representative organizations, including the JNC.^[2]

The members of the JNC also participated in meetings of the Zionist General Council. The organization represented almost all major Jewish factions, however a few smaller groups at first objected to the creation of centralized leadership. Notably, Agudat Israel joined only in 1935.^{[citation needed]} It was announce only in 1946 that the Sephardic Jews and the Zionist Revisionists, would stop refusing to participate in the JNC.^{[3][verification needed]}

The Political Department of the JNC was responsible for relations with the Arabs, ties with the Jewish Agency and negotiations with the British government. As the yishuv grew, the JNC adopted more functions, such as education, health care and welfare services, internal defense and security matters, and organized recruitment to the British forces during World War II. In the 1940s, departments for physical training, culture and press and information were added. ^{[citation needed]}

The report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry issued in 1946, stated:

"The Jews have developed, under the aegis of the Jewish Agency and the JNC, a strong and tightly-woven community. There thus exists a virtual Jewish nonterritorial State with its own executive and legislative organs..."^[4]

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, this departmental structure served as a basis for the government ministries. On March 2, 1948, the New Jewish Council:

" begins work on organization of Jewish provisional government" ^[5]

On May 14, 1948, (the expiration day of the British Mandate), its members gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and ratified the proclamation declaring the establishment of the State of Israel. The members of the JNC formed the provisional government of the nascent State of Israel.

• The Political Department
• The Education Department
• The Health Department
• The Communities Department
• The Rabbinate
• The Social Welfare Department

• 1920–1929 David Yellin
• 1929–1931 Pinhas Rutenberg
• 1931–1944 Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
• 1944–1948 David Remez

• History of Israel
• Jewish Agency for Israel
• Zionism
• Category:Jewish National Council members

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jewish National Council.

• Country Studies Program, [1] at the Library of Congress
• Facts About Israel-History at MFA
• The Cry of the Children in Palestine
• Between the World Wars

v t e Zionism
Concepts	Zion Land of Israel Aliyah Yerida Homeland (proposals) Jewish state Law of Return Yishuv Territorialism Promised Land Gathering of Israel Settlement Negation of the Diaspora Revival of the Hebrew language Hebraization of surnames Judaization Zionism, race and genetics
Ideologies	General Labor Revisionist Reform Religious Cultural Federal Post-Zionism Proto-Zionism Neo-Zionism Non-Zionism Green Christian Canaanism Yiddishist Golus
Organizations	Histadrut Hovevei Zion Bilu World Zionist Organization Zionist General Council Zionist Federation of Germany Zionist Organization of America Zionist Organization of Canada Religious Zionists of America Jewish National Fund Poale Zion Jewish Agency for Israel Jewish National Council Mizrachi Bnei Akiva Habonim Dror Hashomer Hatzair Haganah HaNoar HaTzioni World Agudath Israel Irgun Betar Lehi Jewish Party (Czechoslovakia) Jewish Party (Romania) Jewish Resistance Movement Palmach Women's International Zionist Organization Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America Aytzim American Zionist Movement Am Yisrael Foundation Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland Institute for Zionist Strategies International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Nefesh B'Nefesh Birthright Israel
History and timelines	History of Israel Chronology of Aliyah History of Zionism Balfour Declaration UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 UN General Assembly Resolution 46/86 Timeline of Zionism Israeli–Palestinian peace process Timeline of the Arab–Israeli conflict
Holidays	Yom HaZikaron Independence Day Jerusalem Day Yom HaAliyah Herzl Day Jabotinsky Day Ben-Gurion Day Rabin Day
Related topics	List of Zionists Anti-Zionism The Holocaust Antisemitism New antisemitism Not one inch Jewish Autonomism Jewish emancipation Jewish political movements Greater Israel Muscular Judaism Muslim supporters of Israel Progressive except Palestine Zionism as settler colonialism Zionist antisemitism Zionist political violence Zio (pejorative) Ulpan Conservatism in Israel Liberalism in Israel