Golda Meir (previously Meyerson; ; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and, to date, only female head of government.
Born into a Ukrainian-Jewish family in Kiev, Russian Empire, Meir immigrated with her family to the United States in 1906. She graduated from the Milwaukee State Normal School and found work as a teacher. While in Milwaukee, she embraced the Labor Zionist movement. In 1921, Meir and her husband immigrated to Mandatory Palestine, settling in Merhavia, later becoming the kibbutz's representative to the Histadrut. In 1934, she was elevated to the executive committee of the trade union. Meir held several key roles in the Jewish Agency during and after World War II. She was a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, in 1948. Meir was elected to the Knesset, in 1949, and served as Labor Minister until 1956, when she was appointed Foreign Minister by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. She retired from the ministry in 1966 due to ill health.
In 1969, Meir assumed the role of prime minister following the death of Levi Eshkol. Early in her tenure, she made multiple diplomatic visits to western leaders to promote her vision of peace in the region. The outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 caught Israel off guard and inflicted severe early losses on the army. The resulting public anger damaged Meir's reputation and led to an inquiry into the failings. Her Alignment coalition was denied a majority in the subsequent legislative election; she resigned the following year and was succeeded as prime minister by Yitzhak Rabin. Meir died in 1978 of lymphoma and was buried on Mount Herzl.
A controversial figure in Israel, Meir has been lionized as a founder of the state and described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics, but also widely blamed for the country being caught by surprise during the war of 1973. In addition, her dismissive statements towards the Palestinians have been described as the most famous example of Israeli denial of Palestinian identity. Most historians believe Meir was more successful as Minister of Labour and Housing than as Premier.
Early life Meir was born Golda Mabovitch on 3 May 1898 into a Ukrainian-Jewish family in downtown Kiev in the Russian Empire. Her parents were Blume Neiditch (1868–1951) and Moshe Yitzhak Mabovitch (1864–1944), a carpenter. Meir wrote in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of Moshe boarding up the front door in response to rumours of an imminent pogrom. She was named after Blume's paternal grandmother, Golde. Meir had two sisters, Sheyna (1889–1972) and Tzipora "Tzipke" (later known as Clara; born 1902–1981), as well as five other siblings who died in infancy.
Moshe left Russia to find work in New York City in 1903. In his absence, the rest of the family moved to Pinsk to join Blume's family. In 1905, Moshe moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in search of higher-paying work and found employment in the workshops of the local railroad yard. The following year, he had saved up enough money to bring his family to the United States. Meir, along with Blume, Sheyna, and Tzipke, landed in Quebec and traveled to Milwaukee by train.
Blume ran a grocery store on Milwaukee's north side. By the age of eight, Meir was often put in charge of watching the store when Blume went to buy supplies. Meir attended the Fourth Street Grade School, which is now known by the Golda Meir School, from 1906 to 1912. A leader early on, she and a close friend, Regina Hamburger, organized the American Young Sisters Society, a fundraiser to pay for her classmates' textbooks in 1908. As part of the organization's activities, Meir rented a hall and scheduled a public meeting for the event. She graduated as valedictorian of her class despite frequent tardiness due to having to work in Blume's store.
In 1912, Meir began studying at North Division High School and worked part-time. Her employers included Schuster's department store and the Milwaukee Public Library. Her parents had not wanted her to attend high school.
The following year, Meir took a train to live with her married sister, Sheyna Korngold, in Denver, Colorado. She attended North High School there. The Korngolds held intellectual evenings at their home, where she was exposed to debates on Zionism, literature, women's suffrage, trade unionism, and more. In her autobiography, Meir wrote: "To the extent that my own future convictions were shaped and given form ... those talk-filled nights in Denver played a considerable role." Around 1913, she began dating Morris Meyerson, a sign painter and socialist.
Return to Milwaukee, Zionist activism, and teaching In 1914, after disagreements with her sister, Golda left North High School, moved out of her sister's home, and found work. After reconciling with her parents, she returned to Milwaukee and resumed studies at North Division High, graduating in 1915. While there, she became an active member of Young Poale Zion, which later became Habonim, the Labor Zionist youth movement. She spoke at public meetings and embraced Socialist Zionism.
She attended the teachers college Milwaukee State Normal School (now University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee) in 1916, and likely part of 1917. In 1917, she took a position at a Yiddish-speaking Folks Schule in Milwaukee. There, she further embraced Labor Zionism.
On 9 July 1917, Golda became a naturalized US citizen, as her father had naturalized, and at that time children of naturalized citizens under the age of 21 received citizenship by descent.
On 24 December 1917, Meir and Meyerson married. However, Meir's precondition for marriage was to settle in Palestine.Mother of a nation, but not much of a mother Haaretz, July 7, 2008 She had intended to make aliyah (immigration to Israel) straight away, but her plans were disrupted when all transatlantic passenger services were canceled due to the entry of the United States into the First World War. She then threw her energies into Poale Zion activities. A short time after their wedding, she embarked on a fund-raising campaign for Poale Zion that took her across the United States.
Immigration to Mandatory Palestine
In 1921, after the conclusion of the war, the couple moved to Palestine, then part of the British Mandate, along with Meir's sister Sheyna, Sheyna's daughter, and Meir's childhood friend Regina. They sailed on the SS Pocahontas, from New York to Naples, then from there to Tel Aviv by train. Meir's parents subsequently moved to Palestine in 1926.
They were eventually accepted into kibbutz Merhavia in the Jezreel Valley after an initial rejected application. Her duties included picking almonds, planting trees, working in the chicken coops, and running the kitchen. Recognizing her leadership abilities, the kibbutz chose her as its representative to the Histadrut, the General Federation of Labour.
In 1924, the couple left the kibbutz and lived briefly in Tel Aviv before settling in Jerusalem. There, they had two children: a son Menachem in 1924, and a daughter Sarah in 1926. Meir returned to Merhavia for a brief period in 1925.
Early political career In 1928, Meir was elected secretary of Moetzet HaPoalot (Working Women's Council). She spent two years (1932–34) in the United States as an emissary for the organization and to get expert medical treatment for her daughter's kidney illness.Golda Meir, Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel, ed. Raphael Patai, New York, 1971, vol. II, pp. 776–77
In 1934, when Meir returned from the United States, she joined the executive committee of the Histadrut and moved up the ranks to become the head of its Political Department. This appointment was important training for her future role in Israeli leadership."Golda Meir", Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter, 1972, Jerusalem, vol. 11, pp. 1242–45
In July 1938, Meir was the Jewish observer from Palestine at the Évian Conference, called by President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States to discuss the question of Jewish refugees' fleeing Nazi persecution. Delegates from the 32 invited countries repeatedly expressed their sorrow for the plight of the European Jews, but refused to admit the refugees.Flüchtlingskonferenz von Évian 1938, Als die Welt sich abwandte , Der Spiegel, July 6, 2018. (in German) The only exception was the Dominican Republic, which pledged to accept 100,000 refugees on generous terms. Meir was disappointed at the outcome and she remarked to the press, "There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore."
Throughout World War II, Meir served several key roles in the Jewish Agency, which functioned as the arm of the Zionist Organization in British Palestine.
In June 1946, Meir became acting head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency after the British arrested Moshe Sharett and other leaders of the Yishuv as part of Operation Agatha. This was a critical moment in her career: she became the principal negotiator between the Jews in Palestine and the British Mandatory authorities. After his release, Sharett went to the United States to attend talks on the UN Partition Plan, leaving Meir to head the Political Department until the establishment of the state in 1948.
In 1947, she traveled to Cyprus to meet Jewish detainees of the Cyprus internment camps, who had been interned by the British after being caught trying to illegally enter Palestine, and persuade them to give priority to families with children to fill the small quota of detainees allowed into Palestine. She was largely successful in this task.
Role in the Palestine War
On 17 November 1947, shortly before the outbreak of the 1947-1949 Palestine war, Meir met with King Abdullah I of Jordan. Abdullah I was seen as the only Arab leader willing to ally with a future Israeli state, as he also opposed the Mufti of Jerusalem and was rivals with other Arab countries. The meeting was cordial and confirmed that Abdullah was uninterested in invading and quietly willing to cooperate in the future.
First phase of the war
For most of the war, Meir reluctantly played what she felt was a minor role in Israel's activities. An article published by the Golda Meir institute said "she felt she was being pushed aside to a secondary arena".
However, she played a critical role in fundraising. In January 1948, the Jewish Agency needed to raise funds for the continuing war and the coming Israeli state. The treasurer of the Jewish Agency was convinced that they would not be able to raise more than $7 to $8 million from the American Jewish community. Meir raised over $30 million. Key to her success was an emotional speech she first delivered in Chicago on 22 January. She toured dozens of cities in the United States and returned to Israel on 18 March.
The funds were critical to the success of the war effort and the establishment of Israel; by comparison, the opposing Arab Higher Committee's annual budget was around $2.25 million, similar to Haganah's annual budget before the war.Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine, vol.3 Fayard 2007 p.33. Ben-Gurion wrote that Meir's role as the "Jewish woman who got the money which made the state possible" would go down in history.
However, upon returning home, she suffered a political setback. The Jewish Agency and National Council Executives excluded her from the 13-member cabinet of the provisional government of Israel, and included her instead in the 37-member People's Council. Ben-Gurion protested this, saying "It is inconceivable that there shall be no adequate woman…it is a moral and political necessity, for the Yishuv, the Jewish world and the Arab world." At one point, he even considered offering her his spot on the cabinet.