The Jewish Agency for Israel (Hebrew: הסוכנות היהודית לארץ ישראל), also known as the Sochnut, served as the pre-state Jewish government before the establishment of Israel and later became the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora.

The Jewish Agency for Palestine took over from the Zionist Commission in 1923 to represent and administer the Jewish community during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine, which lasted between 1921 and 1948. It received official recognition in 1929.^{[citation needed]} During the Mandate Period, the Jewish Agency for Palestine was a quasi-governmental organization that served the administrative needs of the Jewish community. Its leadership was elected by Jews from all over the world by proportional representation. ^[1]

The Jewish Agency was charged with facilitating Jewish immigration to Palestine, land purchase and planning the general policies of the Zionist leadership. It ran schools and hospitals, and formed an illegal but tolerated defense organization, the Haganah. The British authorities offered to create a similar Arab Agency but this offer was rejected by Arab leaders.

The Jewish Agency was raided by British Troops in 1946 under Operation Agatha in retaliation for a number of attacks against British forces, however the Haganah did not attack British forces directly. These were largely carried out by Etzel, better known as the Irgun. The Jerusalem headquarters of the Jewish Agency was bombed by agents of the Grand Mufti Haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini in early 1948, with great loss of life. During the subsequent siege, the Agency moved its headquarters to Tel Aviv.

On May 14, 1948, the Jewish Agency for Palestine, under its leader David Ben Gurion, became the Provisional government of Israel.

 The Jewish Agency for Israel -Contemporary

Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the government created a new Jewish Agency for Israel to facilitate economic development and the absorption of immigrants.