The provisional government of Israel (, HaMemshela HaZmanit) was the temporary cabinet which governed Israel from shortly before independence until the formation of the first government in March 1949 following the first Knesset elections in January that year.

It was formed as Minhelet HaAm (, lit. People's Administration) on 12 April 1948, in preparation for independence just over a month later. All its members were taken from Moetzet HaAm (People's Council), the temporary legislative body set up at the same time. On 12 May, Minhelet HaAm convened to vote on whether to declare independence. Three of the members were missing; Yehuda Leib Maimon and Yitzhak Gruenbaum were stuck in besieged Jerusalem, whilst Yitzhak-Meir Levin was in the United States.

The meeting started at 1:45 and ended after midnight. The decision was between accepting the American proposal for a truce, or declaring independence. The latter option was put to a vote, with six of the ten members present supporting it:

• For: David Ben-Gurion, Mordechai Bentov, Moshe Sharett (Mapai), Peretz Bernstein (General Zionists), Haim-Moshe Shapira (Hapoel HaMizrachi), Aharon Zisling (Mapam).
• Against: Eliezer Kaplan, David Remez (Mapai), Pinchas Rosen (New Aliyah Party), Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit (Sephardim and Oriental Communities).

On 14 May, the day Israel declared independence, Minhelet HaAm was converted into the Provisional government, whilst Moetzet HaAm became the Provisional State Council.

External links

• Provisional Government Knesset website

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