Golda Meir (birth name Mobavithc) was born on May 3rd, 1898, in Kyiv. Then, it was a part of the Russian Empire, but today it is the capital of Ukraine. The Jewish family faced hate in their home country. So, her father moved to the USA in 1903. After saving enough money, he managed to get the rest of the family to the USA.
Her mother wanted her to marry after graduating high school. But, she declined. During her university studies, she became a leader in the local Labor Zionist party. In short, Zionism is the support of a Jewish state.
Further, she met her future husband, Morris Meyers, a socialist. In 1921, the pair decided to move to Palestine and live in a kibbutz. But, only three years later, they moved to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and started a family, having a son and daughter.
✟ December 8, 1978, Jerusalem, Israel
Golda Meir Rising in Politics
She became a leader of the Women’s Labor Council of the Histadrut, an Israeli trade union, supporting the idea of a Jewish state. She was a loud and convincing voice for the Zionist cause during World War II. At last, on May 14th, 1948, Meir was among the signators of Israeli independence. She briefly then took the role of an ambassador to Moscow, Soviet Union.
In the 1949 elections, she won a seat in the Israeli parliament for the social-democrat party Mapai. Prime minister David Ben-Guiron offered her to be his deputy. She declined and chose the minister of labor, focusing on housing and infrastructure. In 1956, Meir was appointed the foreign affairs minister.
In 1969, as the leader of the newly formed Labour Party, Golda Meir became the first female prime minister of the country (head of government), coming out of retirement for the job. During her five years as prime minister, she dealt with challenging problems such as the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics or the Yom Kippur War.
The War led her to resign. She was a social democrat and Zionist leader but did not believe in co-existence with Palestinians. Golda Meir died on December 8th, 1978, in Jerusalem.
“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”
Golda Meir
