March 7, 1969 - Gold Meir - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Golda Mabovitz was born in Kiev, Russia on May 3, 1898 and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She married Morris Meyerson before moving to Tel Aviv, which was part of Palestine in 1921. There she became actively involved in the labour movement and the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. Shortly after Israel became independent in 1948, she was named minister of labour, a post she held until 1956. Prime Minister Ben Gurion eventually appointed her foreign minister, a post she held until 1966. Gurion also encouraged her to adopt a more Hebrew-sounding name; she chose Meir, which means “to burn brightly.” After a stint as the Labour Party’s Secretary General on March 7, 1969, Meir was nominated by the party to become Prime Minister of Israel. As Prime Minister, Meir presided over great turmoil and conflict, including an attack by Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War. On October 6, 1973, while Jews were observing their Day of Atonement, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in an attempt to take back occupied territories they’d lost during the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel won the battle at a staggering cost of 2,700 soldiers dead. The controversy this generated influenced Meir to step down in the spring of 1974 even after her party won the general election. She died in Jerusalem on December 8, 1978 at the age of 80.

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