Golda Meir (Meyerson) (1898

Lexicon of Terms

Political Biography

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion with Foreign Minister Golda Meir, November 1, 1962

Lexicon of Terms

Golda Meir (Meyerson) (1898–1978)

Stateswoman, leader of the Labor Party, Member of the Knesset, Minister and Prime Minister of Israel (1969 – 1974).

Meir was born in Russia and immigrated with her family to the United States. She was educated and certified as a teacher in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In her youth she joined “Poalei Zion” and in 1921 made Aliyah. She was active in the Histadrut from its early days and was elected in 1928 as Secretary of the Council of Working Women (Moetzet HaPoalot). She served as its delegate to the United States between 1932 and 1934, and was elected on her return to the Executive Committee of the Histadrut.

In the following years Meir played a significant role within the Mapai party and was deeply involved in the political struggle for Aliyah, defense, and independence. Upon the arrest of Moshe Sharett in 1946 she was his substitute at the head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency. On the eve of the invasion of the Jordanian legion to Eretz Yisrael, Meir met secretly with Abdullah, King of Jordan, in an attempt to reach a peaceful agreement.

After the establishment of the State, Meir served as the first Consul of Israel in Moscow in 1948 and 1949. She served as a member of the Knesset – on behalf of Mapai and the Labor Party – from the First Knesset until the Eighth (1949 – 1974). She was Minister of Labor from 1949 through 1956 and Foreign Minister from 1956 until 1966. In the latter capacity, Meir initiated the policy of cooperation with the newly established states in Africa. In 1966, she was elected as Secretary General of Mapai and had a significant part in the establishment of the Labor Party in 1968.

Upon the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, in February 1969, she headed the National Unity Government. The Herut-Liberal Bloc left the coalition in 1970 after her acceptance of the Rogers Plan. Following the elections to the Eighth Knesset (1973) held shortly after the Yom Kippur War, Meir installed a new government, but resigned soon after the publication of the Agranat Commission Report.

Meir’s stand on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the social gaps in Israel seemed too simplistic and tenacious to many (she had claimed that the Palestinian people did not exist and that the Black Panthers Movement “are not nice”). Despite this, she was greatly appreciated in Israel and around the world for her personality and capability of leadership. In 1972, she was elected Deputy Chairperson of the Socialist International, an international organization of the social-democratic parties, and held this post until her retirement as head of the Labor Party.