---
title: "Who Signed Israel's Declaration of Independence?"
description: "Thirty-seven members of the People's Council signed the Declaration. The roster included two women, Golda Meir and Rachel Cohen-Kagan, as well as religious, labor, Revisionist, communist, and Sephardic or Mizrahi figures."
url: "https://hasbara.co.il/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/the-dual-female-signatories-of-the-israeli-declaration-of-independence"
type: "resource-page"
locale: "en"
categories: ["Israel's Declaration of Independence 1948: Text and Signatories"]
---

# Who Signed Israel's Declaration of Independence?

*Thirty-seven members of the People's Council signed the Declaration. The roster included two women, Golda Meir and Rachel Cohen-Kagan, as well as religious, labor, Revisionist, communist, and Sephardic or Mizrahi figures.*

Thirty-seven representatives signed Israel's Declaration of Independence. The roster included two women—Golda Meir and Rachel Cohen-Kagan—and leaders from several political and religious currents in the Jewish community. The signatories were not the full membership of the People's Council, and the roster should not be mistaken for a census of the entire provisional leadership. [The Knesset's guide](https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/Documents/visit/DocActivity5EN.pdf) confirms the total and names both women; the [published Declaration record](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-declaration-of-the-establishment-of-the-state-of-israel) reproduces the signatures' names.

## The complete roster

The signatories were David Ben-Gurion, Daniel Auster, Mordechai Bentov, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Eliyahu Berligne, Fritz Bernstein, Rachel Cohen-Kagan, Eliyahu Dobkin, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman, Abraham Granovsky, Yitzhak Gruenbaum, Rabbi Kalman Kahana, Eliezer Kaplan, Sa'adia Kobashi, Moshe Kolodny, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin, Zvi Luria, Meir David Loewenstein, Golda Myerson (Meir), Nachum Nir, David Zvi Pinkas, Meir Grabovsky (Argov), Berl Repetur, David Remez, Felix Rosenblueth (Rosen), Zvi Segal, Moshe Shapira, Moshe Shertok (Sharett), Mordechai Shattner, Bekhor Shitreet, Ben-Zion Sternberg, Aharon Zisling, Herzl Vardi, Zerach Wahrhaftig, Meir Wilner-Kovner, and Abraham Katznelson. Spellings and transliterations differ across English records; the names here follow the published roster.

## Women and diverse backgrounds

Golda Meir, then known as Golda Myerson, and Rachel Cohen-Kagan were the two women among the 37 signers. They signed as members of the People's Council; this is distinct from simply attending the ceremony. Both held public roles in the Jewish community before statehood, and Meir later became Israel's prime minister. Their signatures are part of the document's official roster, as the [Knesset guide](https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/Documents/visit/DocActivity5EN.pdf) states.

Several signers were Sephardic or Mizrahi figures, including Bekhor Shitreet, Sa'adia Kobashi, and David Zvi Pinkas. Shitreet, born in Tiberias to a Moroccan Jewish family, was a lawyer and longtime public official; Kobashi was a Jerusalem rabbi; Pinkas was a leader in the religious Zionist movement. The roster also included rabbis and religious-party leaders, labor Zionists, General Zionists, Revisionist representatives, and Meir Wilner-Kovner of the Communist Party. This range is meaningful, but it did not encompass every political view or community in the country.

Some signers did not sign the parchment at the May 14 ceremony; signatures were added later. The Knesset's count refers to the completed document, while the ceremony's attendance is a separate question. See [how the parchment was signed](https://hasbara.co.il/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/signing-the-blank-parchment-israel-s-dramatic-1948-independence) and [how the wording was finalized](https://hasbara.co.il/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/the-tzur-yisrael-compromise-resolving-israel-s-founding-debate).

## Pages

- [What Israel's Declaration of Independence Says](/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/legal-foundations-of-israeli-sovereignty.md)
- [The Declaration's Drafting and Tzur Yisrael Compromise](/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/the-tzur-yisrael-compromise-resolving-israel-s-founding-debate.md)
- [Arab Residents, Citizenship, and the Declaration's Promises](/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/appeals-for-arab-peace-and-citizenship-in-1948.md)
- [The May 14 Ceremony and Israel's First Recognition](/resources/israels-declaration-of-independence-1948-text-and-signatories/signing-the-blank-parchment-israel-s-dramatic-1948-independence.md)

## Sources

- [main.knesset.gov.il](https://main.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/Documents/visit/DocActivity5EN.pdf)
- [jewishvirtuallibrary.org](https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-declaration-of-the-establishment-of-the-state-of-israel)
- [main.knesset.gov.il](https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/about/pages/declaration.aspx)