Philip Rubenstein
Israel’s Prime Ministers, Part 3: Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Woman

Long after she left office, Golda Meir continued to provoke mixed emotions among the Israeli public. This talk focuses on her public life from 1948 onwards, exploring how she helped build the State of Israel and later carried responsibility during its most dangerous years. While drawing on her early life and formative experiences—poverty, fear of antisemitic violence, and a deep sense of her Jewishness—the emphasis is on what Golda achieved after statehood. This lecture explores her remarkable rise from movement leader and fundraiser to prime minister—a role she initially assumed as the compromise candidate. We look at her years in office, the moral clarity with which she made decisions, and the enduring controversy surrounding Israel’s failure to anticipate the attack that triggered the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Along with Trudy Gold’s companion Lockdown lecture, Golda Meir: Matriarch of a Nation (July 2021), which covers Golda’s life and times up to 1948, these two talks offer a comprehensive picture of a leader whose legacy continues to provoke both admiration and debate.