The People’s Commander, whose official name was “The Commander for the Service of the People”, was a system for general recruitment in the Yishuv in the period between November 29 and the declaration of statehood (November 1947 to May 1948), which was established by the leadership of the Yishuv and the “Hagana” organization. The system was called recruitment which included the publication of recruitment orders in the Hebrew newspapers, the establishment of recruitment bureaus, the conduct of physical fitness tests, and the recruits were sent to input bases in the bus system. The recruitment was declared mandatory and the response to it was massive. The system was headed by the “Center for the People’s Command”, which was established on November 19 1947 led by Levi Eshkol (then Shkolnik) and Binyamin Avniel (later member of the Knesset on behalf of the Harut movement).

Men and women between the ages of 17 and 25 were called up for conscription. In the conscription orders published in the press, under the heading “everyone aged 17-25 for the service of the people”

The recruitment resulted in the enlistment of tens of thousands, who before the establishment of the IDF were called “Defense Forces”. The mass volunteering allowed the defense to stand ready with 6 infantry brigades on the day of the invasion of the Arab armies, May 15, 1948.