Golda Meir, PM of Israel Born in Ukraine

 Nadene Goldfoot                                   

Golda Meyerson, changed to Golda Meir, was born on May 3, 1898 and died on December 8, 1978 at age 80.  She was born in Kiev, Ukraine, Russia and immigrated to the USA when 8 years old with her parents, Moshe and Bluma Mabovitch nee Neiditch,  who were having economic hardships in 1906.                                       

                    Golda before 1910

The Mabovitch family had fled their home in part to escape pogroms (mob attacks) that had been carried out against Jews in Russia at the time. Meir later recalled that her childhood terror of anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) violence strongly influenced her later commitment to establish Israel as  a safe and secure state. They settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  In 1905, Moshe had 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. He had gone to New York first, in 1903, to find work, so Bluma and the children had gone to Pinsk, Belarus to be with her family, there.   

   

 Golda made aliyah to Palestine in 1921 with her husband, Morris Myerson. who she married in 1917 at age 19.                 

After arriving in Palestine, the Myersons joined a kibbutz (a communal settlement) where after some training they were put in charge of the chicken farm. However, Golda's husband became ill, and the couple decided to move to Tel Aviv. The couple eventually moved to Jerusalem where their two children were born. In Jerusalem, Golda found work as treasurer of the Office of Public Works of the Histadruth, a labor organization that included kibbutz workers and that became the most important economic organization in the Israeli state.

She was active in Labor Zionism and held important posts in the Histadrut and Jewish Agency.  When the pre­-state British Mandatory Authorities imprisoned most of the Jewish community’s senior leadership in 1946, she replaced Moshe Sharett as head of the  Political Department, the chief Jewish liaison with the British. 

In 1948 when Israel was born, Golda was the first Israel minister in the USSR.  A Mapai member of the Knesset since 1949, she was minister of Labor in successive governments  of 1949 to 1956.  

In 1969 she was chosen to succeed Levi Eshkol as Israel's Prime Minister, in which capacity she served during the YOM KIPPUR WAR.   she was reelected at the end of 1973 but retired in 1974.  She wrote the book which I have read, My Life.  It is excellent.  

Though aging and in poor health at 71, Meir proved her abilities to the country during her initial nine-month term. As a result, her Labor Party won the 1969 elections. Meir thus gained her own four-year term as prime minister. This period was marked by Meir's efforts to gain U.S. aid in the form of military and economic assistance. The assurances she won from U.S. president Richard Nixon (1913–1994) helped her open peace talks with the United Arab Republic in 1967, during which one of the several conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors (known as the Arab-Israeli Wars) had occurred.

Golda is known for her superb logical quotes. “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”

-- Golda Meir 

Resource: 

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/golda-meir

https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ma-Mo/Meir-Golda.html

https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/8549-golda-meir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir