Isaac Gruenbaum

Political career

Gruenbaum was among a group of 13 leaders forming the provisional government of the emerging State, and, as a member of Provisional State Council (Moetzet HaAm), signed its declaration of independence. Between 1948 and 1949 he served as a member of the Provisional State Council and was the first Minister of the Interior in that formative period. His initial stance was with the General Zionists, but as time went on moved leftward. He became an adherent of the Mapam socialist-Zionist party, and was known as a declared secularist. Gruenbaum headed an independent list in the elections for the first Knesset, but failed to obtain the minimum number of votes to secure a seat.

According to a February 26, 2026 Haaretz investigation, the protocols of relevant Israeli government meetings from 1948 have not been fully released even after nearly 80 years, though portions of ministerial exchanges have been opened in recent years following pressure on the State Archives. In a discussion concerning orders “to cleanse the area,” Minister Yitzhak Greenboim was quoted as saying that an outside observer could not explain the flight of the Arabs, and that it was reasonable to conclude they were driven to flee through looting, rape, murder, and expulsion, adding that the expulsions should be stopped.

He was later a candidate for President in the 1952 presidential election alongside Yitzhak Ben-Zvi of Mapai, Peretz Bernstein of the General Zionists and Mordechai Nurock of Mizrachi. However, he was beaten by Ben-Zvi.