Hapoel (הפועל – “the worker”) is an Israeli Jewish sports association established in 1926 by the Histadrut Labor Federation.
The first Hapoel games were held in British Mandate Palestine in 1928. During the British mandate, games took place in 1930, 1932, and 1935. The games were interrupted due to various disruptive events and started again in 1952, in the new state of Israel. In 1961, the 7th edition of the games were opened to athletes from all sport associations in Israel and to international athletes from all over the world. The international participation of hundreds of CSIT (Conseil Sportif International du Travail) athletes in these games inspired athletes from around the world to take part in them and increased their worldwide prestige.
In the mid-1990s, significant political and social changes occurred in the State of Israel, leading to profound alterations in the status and function of the Histadrut. Consequently, the Hapoel games lost all their political and social significance and came to an end after the 1995 games.
Note: There is a scarcity of online information on the Hapoel Games per se, and I am grateful for the paper by Kfir Teomim-Frenkel of the Tel Aviv University School of Education, “The Rise and Fall of Hapoel Games in Israel, 1928–1995,” Revue d’histoire culturelle, 8 | 2024, retrieved here: https://journals.openedition.org/rhc/10885, to fill in some of the details and for the promotional poster images.
