Golda Meir (1898 - 1978) was an Israeli politician and diplomat who served as prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, the first woman to hold the post. [1] A signatory of Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, she was successively minister of labour, foreign minister and leader of the Labour Party before becoming prime minister. [2] Her premiership ended in resignation following criticism of the country's lack of readiness for the Yom Kippur War of 1973. [3]
Early life and emigration
Golda Meir was born Golda Mabovitch on 21 April 1898 in Kyiv, then part of the Russian Empire. [1] Her family emigrated to the United States in 1906 and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she attended North Division High School and trained as a teacher at what is now the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She joined the Labour Zionist movement as a young woman and married Morris Meyerson in 1917.
In 1921 the couple emigrated to Mandatory Palestine and joined Kibbutz Merhavia in the Jezreel Valley. [2] Meir became active in the Histadrut, the Jewish labour federation, and moved into full-time union and political work, later heading its political department.
Building a state
During the Second World War and the final years of the British Mandate, Meir worked in the political department of the Jewish Agency and became its head in 1946 after the British arrested much of the Zionist leadership. [1] She raised substantial funds for the Zionist cause in the United States in 1948 and met King Abdullah of Transjordan in an unsuccessful attempt to keep his forces out of the coming war.
She was one of the signatories of Israel's declaration of independence on 14 May 1948 and was appointed the country's first envoy to the Soviet Union. [2] Returning to domestic politics, she served as minister of labour from 1949 to 1956, a post from which she directed large-scale housing and public works programmes for new immigrants.
Foreign minister and prime minister
Appointed foreign minister in 1956, she adopted the Hebrew surname Meir at the prime minister's request and held the post for a decade, developing Israeli aid and diplomatic ties with newly independent African states. [1] She left the cabinet in 1966 to serve as secretary-general of Mapai and helped bring about the merger that created the Labour Party.
After the sudden death of Levi Eshkol in 1969, Meir was chosen to lead the party and became prime minister. [2] Her government faced the War of Attrition along the Suez Canal, attacks on Israeli targets abroad including the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and continued deadlock over a settlement with Egypt and Syria.
The Yom Kippur War and resignation
On 6 October 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated attack on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Israeli forces were caught unprepared and suffered heavy early losses before pushing back the offensives. [3] Meir had received warnings of an impending attack but decided against a pre-emptive strike and against full mobilisation.
The Agranat Commission of inquiry assigned responsibility for the failures principally to the military and intelligence leadership rather than to Meir, but public anger continued and she resigned in April 1974, handing the premiership to Yitzhak Rabin. [4]
Later life and legacy
Meir published her autobiography My Life in 1975 and died in Jerusalem on 8 December 1978 after a long illness. [1] She was awarded the Israel Prize and made an honorary citizen of Jerusalem. Known for a plain-spoken public manner, she remains one of the most recognisable figures of Israel's founding generation and an early example of a woman leading a national government. [2]
