David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion
דָּוִד בֶּן־גּוּרִיּוֹן‎
Ben-Gurion in 1960
1st Prime Minister of Israel
In office 3 November 1955 – 26 June 1963
President	Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Zalman Shazar
Preceded by	Moshe Sharett
Succeeded by	Levi Eshkol
In office 17 May 1948 – 7 December 1953
President	Chaim Weizmann Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Moshe Sharett
Chairman of the Provisional State Council of Israel
In office 14 May 1948 – 16 May 1948
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Chaim Weizmann
Minister of Defense
In office 21 February 1955 – 26 June 1963
Prime Minister	Moshe Sharett Himself
Preceded by	Pinhas Lavon
Succeeded by	Levi Eshkol
In office 14 May 1948 – 26 January 1954
Prime Minister	Himself
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Pinhas Lavon
Personal details
Born	David Grün (1886-10-16)16 October 1886 Płońsk, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
Died	1 December 1973(1973-12-01) (aged 87) Ramat Gan, Israel
Resting place	Ben-Gurion Tomb National Park
Citizenship	Congress Poland Ottoman Empire Mandatory Palestine Israel
Political party	Poale Zion (1905–1919) Ahdut HaAvoda (1919–1930) Mapai (1930–1965) Rafi (1965–1968) National List (from 1968)
Spouse	Paula Munweis ​ ​ (m. 1917; died 1968)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Dar ul-Funun
Signature

David Ben-Gurion (/bɛn ˈɡʊəriən/ ben GOOR-ee-ən; Hebrew: דָּוִד בֶּן־גּוּרִיּוֹן [daˈvid ben ɡuʁˈjon] ^ⓘ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder and first prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he was the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led the movement for an independent Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine.

Born in Płońsk, then part of Congress Poland, to Polish Jewish parents, he immigrated to the Palestine region of the Ottoman Empire in 1906. Adopting the name of Ben-Gurion in 1909, he rose to become the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British-ruled Mandatory Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which he led until 1963 with a short break in 1954–55. Ben-Gurion's interest for Zionism developed early in his life, leading him to become a major Zionist leader, and the executive head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946.^[1]

On 14 May 1948, he formally proclaimed the establishment of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to write. Under Ben-Gurion's leadership, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw the uniting of the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the expulsion and flight of a majority of the Palestinian Arab population. Subsequently, he became known as "Israel's founding father".^[2] Following the war, Ben-Gurion served as Israel's first prime minister and minister of defence. As prime minister, he helped build state institutions, presiding over national projects aimed at the development of the country. He also oversaw the absorption of Jewish immigrants. A major part of his foreign policy was improving relations with West Germany through a reparations agreement in compensation for Nazi confiscation of Jewish property during the Holocaust.^[3]

In 1954, he resigned as prime minister and minister of defence but remained a member of the Knesset. He returned as minister of defence in 1955 after the Lavon Affair and the resignation of Pinhas Lavon. Later that year he became prime minister again, following the 1955 elections. He backed Israel's reprisal operations to Arab guerrilla attacks and its invasion of Egypt, along with Britain and France, during the Suez Crisis in 1956. He stepped down from office in 1963, and retired from political life in 1970. He then moved to his modest "hut" in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death. Posthumously, Ben-Gurion was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.