Politicsמשה קול

Moshe Kol

Moshe Kol was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician who signed Israel's Declaration of Independence and served as Minister of Tourism.

1911 to 1989Signing the Declaration of IndependenceHeading Youth AliyahFounding the Independent LiberalsMinister of Tourism

Born: 28 May 1911, Pinsk
Died: 7 July 1989, Israel
Occupation: politician
Party: Progressive Party, The Israeli Liberal Party, Independent Liberals
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Moshe Kol was born in 1911 in Pinsk

Moshe Kol was born Moshe Kolodny in Pinsk in 1911. He studied at a heder and later at the Hebrew Tarbut high school in his town. He helped found the HaOved HaTzioni youth movement in Poland.

He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1932 and joined Kibbutz Hamefales in Kfar Saba. He sat on the Histadrut executive from 1941 to 1946. From 1947 he headed the Youth Aliyah department of the Jewish Agency.

On 15 May 1948 he signed the Declaration of Independence and joined the Provisional State Council. He was among the founders of the Progressive Party. He entered the Knesset in 1951 but resigned weeks later, then returned after the 1959 elections.

He joined the Liberal Party and later helped form the Independent Liberals in protest at the merger with Herut. After the 1965 elections he became Minister of Tourism and Minister of Development, and he held the tourism post again after the 1969 and 1973 elections. He left the Knesset in 1977, wrote books on Israeli society and foreign affairs, and died in 1989.