Let us now discuss the rescue mission established by the Yishuv's leadership in Istanbul, Turkey, in spring 1943, in addition to and in cooperation with the regular representatives of the Jewish Agency under the most difficult conditions of Turkish neutrality and dependence upon the British, whose standing in Turkey was relatively higher than that of the Germans. Another rescue mission established itself in Geneva, and both were connected with each other, with rescue workers in the Balkan countries, and with the Zionist leadership in Palestine, as well as with non-Zionists abroad.

Dina Porat gave us the names and the political affiliations of the twenty people who were involved in this effort between 1942 and 1945. Tuvia Friling expanded the scope of this research by looking in much detail at the differences between the Zionist representatives in Turkey and their composition and ties with the Jewish Agency's own inner and hybrid structure at home. Friling's conclusion is that, under these circumstances, a small, secret system of decision-making was created within the Yishuv's leadership, comprised of David Ben-Gurion, Eliezer Kaplan (the Jewish Agency's “Minister of Finance”), and Moshe Shertok (the head of the Political Department). This small, compact group made decisions outside of the public Zionist bodies due to their diverse nature and British (plus American) surveillance of their activities. Thus, not much is available in terms of records that this inner group may have left behind.