Golda Meir

{{Audio|He-Golda_Meir.ogg|Golda Meir}} (Hebrew ?????????? ??????) (b. Golda Mabovitz; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a founder of the State of Israel. She served as the Minister of Labor, Foreign Minister, and as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel from March 17, 1969 to April 111974. Golda Meir was the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet was coined for Margaret Thatcher. David Ben-Gurion once described her as "the only man in the Cabinet." She is the first (and to date only) female Prime Minister of Israel, the third female Prime Minister in the world (after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi of India) , as well as the only former American citizen to hold the post (Benjamin Netanyahu is a native-born Israeli whose family moved to Philadelphia when he was a teenager; he moved back to Israel after graduate school and was never a U.S. citizen).

Israel established, 1948

Golda Meir along with 24 others, signed the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. She was one of two women to do this. She later recalled, "After I signed, I cried. When I studied American history as a schoolgirl and I read about those who signed the Declaration of Independence, I couldn't imagine these were real people doing something real. And there I was sitting down and signing a declaration of independence."

Related Topics:
Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel - May 14 - 1948 - Declaration of Independence - Declaration of independence

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The following day, Israel was attacked by joint forces from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Iraq. She was issued Israel's first passport and went to the United States to raise money for the fledgling nation.

Related Topics:
Egypt - Syria - Lebanon - Transjordan - Iraq

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When she returned, she was assigned to be the first ambassador to the Soviet Union. She served there briefly, leaving in 1949. She then entered the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) where she served continuously until 1974.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - 1949 - Knesset - 1974

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