Golda Meir

She was born in Kiev, Ukraine and emigrated to the United States in 1906. She arrived in Israel in 1921, settling in a Kibbutz.

She moved to Tel Aviv in 1924 where she was employed in a variety of posts in the trade union movement and civil service before being elected to the Knesset in 1949. She served as Minister of Labor (1949-1956) and Foreign Minister (1956-1966) in successive governments.

Upon becoming Prime Minister following the death of Levi Eshkol, her government was clouded by internal squabbles among the governing coalition, and serious questions over strategic misjudgments and general lack of leadership that resulted in the unanticipated Yom Kippur War. Golda Meir resigned leadership, to be succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin.

Golda Meir died in Jerusalem and was buried on Mount Herzl[?] in Jerusalem.

Quotations

"There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed." (June 15, 1969)

"Moses dragged us through the desert for 40 years to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil."