Dr Avraham Katznelson was a Zionist

Zionism

Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

 political figure in Mandate Palestine and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence.

Biography

Katznelson was born in 1888 in Babruysk

Babruysk

Babruysk or Bobruysk is a city in the Mahilyow Voblast of Belarus on the Berezina river. It is a large city in Belarus with a population of approximately 227,000 people . The name Babruysk probably originates from the Belarusian word babyor , many of which used to inhabit the Berezina...

 in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, now in Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

. A doctor and resident of Jerusalem, Katznelson was a member of the central committees of both Mapai

Mapai

Mapai was a left-wing political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in 1968...

 and Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...

, representing the former in the Vaad Leumi

Vaad Leumi

The Jewish National Council , also known as the Jewish People's Council was the main national institution of the Jewish community within the British Mandate of Palestine.-History:...

 and Moetzet HaAm, and also serving as director of the health department of the Zionist Executive. As such, in 1948 he was amongst the signatories of Israel's declaration of independence, and was immediately co-opted into the Provisional State Council

Provisional State Council

The Provisional State Council was the temporary legislature of Israel from shortly before independence until the election of the first Knesset in January 1949...

. He was also involved in the foundation of the radio station Kol Yisrael

Kol Yisrael

Kol Yisrael is Israel's public domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.-History:...

, which began broadcasting on the day independence was declared.

After independence he was appointed as an envoy to Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

 and later took a Hebrew surname, Nissan.

His sister Rachel Katznelson-Shazar

Rachel Katznelson-Shazar

Rachel Katznelson-Shazar , also known as Rachel Shazar, was an active figure in the Zionist movement and wife of Zalman Shazar, the third President of the State of Israel.-Biography:...

 was the wife of President

President of Israel

The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...

 Zalman Shazar

Zalman Shazar

Zalman Shazar was an Israeli politician, author. and poet. Shazar served as the third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973.-Biography:...

, whilst he was the uncle of Shmuel Tamir

Shmuel Tamir

Shmuel M. Tamir was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, Knesset member from 1965 to 1980, and Minister of Justice in the government of Menachem Begin from 1977 until 1980-Irgun:...

.