David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973)Benedict “Viktor” Gombocz

Early years (1886-1904)• David Ben-Gurion was born

David Gruen in Płońsk (Plonsk in Yiddish), Poland (then the Kingdom of Poland, informally Congress Poland, part of the Russian Empire) in 1886.

• He learned Hebrew in a school headed by his father.

• As a youth, he headed a Zionist youth group called Ezra.

• Ben-Gurion moved to Warsaw when he was 18, where he taught in a Jewish school and became involved in the Poalei Tziyon (Workers of Zion) Socialist-Zionist movement.

Life in Palestine (1906-1914) • In 1906, Ben-Gurion emigrated to Palestine.• He assisted in founding the first agricultural

workers’ community in Sejera that was to become kvutzath Degania.

• He also assisted in founding the “Hashomer” (“The Watchman”) defense organization.

Hashomer in 1925

World War I, life in the United States, and return to Palestine (1914-1919) • When World War I commenced,

Ben-Gurion, a Russian national, was viewed as an alien foe; he was expelled by the Ottoman authorities.

• In the interest of the Socialist-Zionist cause, he traveled to New York.

• In the U.S., he met and married a fellow Poalei Zion advocate, Paula Monbesz.

• He returned to Palestine, where he joined the Jewish Legion, established as an entity of the British Army on the plan of Ze'ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky.

Early political career (1920-1948) • A founder of the Histadrut trade union, Ben-Gurion served as its

ambassador in the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency; he was elected leader of both associations in 1935.

• He also led the Labor Party (Mapai) and was associated with the party “activist” wing.

• His general dream and concerns on the eve of the struggle against the British in 1944 are unraveled in a speech, “Imperatives of the Jewish Revolution” that he gave to youth groups that year.

• Ben-Gurion fought in opposition to factionalism, especially alignment with Soviet Communism, and he stressed the need for pioneering, Halutziut; his concern with pioneering was authentic and personal.

• After the future establishment of the State of Israel, he tried to create a “pioneering service” that would send young individuals to assist and develop the Negev; when this backfired, he left the PM’s office for a time in 1954, and settled in Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev to set a personal example.

Establishment of the State of Israel and First Premiership (1948-1954)

• As the head of the Zionist executive, Ben-Gurion guided the effort to create the State of Israel in May 1948; following Israel’s independence on May 14, he was elected the first PM of Israel and Defense Minister.

• He brought the Mapai party to electoral victory as an issue of course in successive elections.

• As PM, he supervised the creation of the new state’s institutions, giving them the stamp of his character.

• A critical and controversial decision Ben Gurion made in 1948 was the merger of all armed division into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF, Tzahal) – the single military of Israel; there would be no private armies in the new nation, which annoyed the leaders of the Haganah and the Palmach, the subversive of the Jewish agency and the Kibbutz movement.

• Nonetheless, they had no option but to do so.

1948/49 map of Israel

Establishment of the State of Israel and First Premiership (1948-1954) - cont. • The dissident secretive, the Irgun,

was, on the other hand, not under the direct control of the Zionist executive; it was under the political guidance of Menachem Begin of the Revisionist Herut association.

• Begin wanted to transport a big supply of weapons into Israel; his strategy was to issue it as a separate military bloc.

• Some historians suggest that Begin or aspects in the Irgun were plotting a coup.

• On the orders of PM Ben-Gurion, the ship the Altlalena, was sunk off the coast of Tel Aviv; a cause of resentment for devotees of the Revisionist moment, but it assured the democratic and arranged future of the new country.

First resignation as PM and Second Premiership (1953-1963) • Ben-Gurion resigned as PM in 1953 and

retired to Kibbutz Sde Broker in the Negev; Moshe Sharett took his place.

• After the 1955 Knesset elections, Ben-Gurion returned to politics, reclaiming the position of both Defense Minister and PM.

• After his second, non-consecutive term as PM, Ben-Gurion backed establishing diplomatic relations with West Germany; the 1956 Sinai campaign happened during his second premiership.

• In reality, Ben-Gurion remained a local of the Negev.

• He believed that Israel’s future was centered in the Negev and he encouraged migration there as well as hydrogeology studies and farming projects that he expected would make the Negev arable.

Second resignation as PM and final years in politics (1963-1970) • Ben-Gurion resigned as PM in June 1963 as a result of the “Lavon Affair”; he

was succeeded by Levi Eshkol.• Pinhas Lavon was Defense Minister in 1954 when an Israeli spy ring was

captured in Egypt attempting to destroy the USIA and other Western targets; he tried to blame the Egyptians.

• Lavon did not take responsibility and claimed that Ben-Gurion issued the order, though Ben-Gurion insisted that he had no knowledge of the matter.

• Ben-Gurion remained active in political life, developing a rivalry with Eshkol.

• The Mapai Party split in June 1965. • Ben-Gurion and future PM and President Shimon Peres (List of Israeli

Workers), which acquired ten seats in the Knesset in the subsequent election.

• Rafi rejoined Mapai and Ahdut Ha’avoda in 1968, to found the Israel Labor Party, but Ben-Gurion declined to join and created his own party Hareshima Hamamlachtit (The State List), that obtained four seats in the Knesset in the 1969 elections.

Retirement from politics, final years, and death (1970-1973) • Ben-Gurion stepped down

from political life in June 1970.• He was famous for his creative

writings and unique philosophical view, his activism, confidence and stubbornness.

• He was also famous for fondness for physical fitness, especially for standing on his head at an old age.

• At his retirement, David Ben-Gurion returned to Kibbutz Sde Boker; he died there in 1973, aged 87, and he is buried with his wife there.

Graves of David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula in Sde Boker

Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv

Bibliography • http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/biography_david_bengurion

.htm• YT links:

▫ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy_LlKE9OMQ ▫ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZDSBF5xtoo