WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.779 OK, let's unpack this. We are diving deep into 00:00:03.779 --> 00:00:07.480 the life of Golda Meir, a figure who is, I mean, 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:09.820 maybe one of the most paradoxical and defining 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:12.820 leaders of the 20th century. Absolutely. For 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.980 so many, she's the iron lady of Israeli politics, 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:18.920 you know, a foundational state builder and the 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:21.640 nation's first and still only female prime minister. 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:24.179 But that paradox is exactly what we need to get 00:00:24.179 --> 00:00:26.719 into. Right. Because while she's lionized for, 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:29.579 say, establishing the Israeli welfare state or 00:00:29.579 --> 00:00:32.000 raising the money that literally made independence 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.179 possible. And signing the Declaration of Independence 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:37.179 itself. Exactly. But she is also at the same 00:00:37.179 --> 00:00:40.439 time widely blamed for what was probably one 00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:42.780 of the most painful strategic failures in Israeli 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:44.780 history. The surprise attack that kicked off 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:48.000 the Yom Kippur War in 1973. That's the one. That 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.880 is just an incredible, complex balance to strike. 00:00:51.020 --> 00:00:53.460 And so our mission today, it's not just a timeline. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.520 It's a real exploration of this monumental career. 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.399 We're synthesizing her journey from, you know, 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:03.060 a frightened immigrant child to a global stateswoman. 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:05.519 focusing on those key decisions. The surprising 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.739 personal facts and really the complex political 00:01:08.739 --> 00:01:11.780 math that underpinned everything she did, the 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:14.079 successes and the failures. And we're pulling 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:16.620 from a whole range of sources to give you, the 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:19.459 listener, a full detailed grasp of her legacy. 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:22.920 We want to go beyond just what she did and really 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.260 analyze why she made these impossible decisions. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.159 Especially in the crucible of state formation 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:31.640 and war. Because those choices, they continue 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:33.930 to shape the region to this day. To understand 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:36.349 the uncompromising Golda Meir, we have to start 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:39.030 at the beginning. We have to go back to the circumstances 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:42.609 of her birth in the Russian Empire. Right. Golda 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:45.090 Mabovich, born in Kiev, which is present -day 00:01:45.090 --> 00:01:48.790 Ukraine, in 1898. Her father was a carpenter, 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:52.170 Moshe Yitzhak Mabovich. The family was. Well, 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:53.870 they were struggling. And her earliest memory, 00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:55.829 the one she writes about in her autobiography, 00:01:55.989 --> 00:01:57.730 it's just chilling. It tells you everything. 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:00.069 It really does. It sets the stage for her entire 00:02:00.069 --> 00:02:02.640 worldview. She remembered being about five years 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.760 old and watching her father and the neighbors 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.319 boarding up the front door. Just nailing planks 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:09.460 of wood over the door. Because there were rumors 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:13.639 of an imminent pogrom. An anti -Jewish riot. 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:16.240 Can you even imagine that being your first memory? 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.060 Watching your father try to physically barricade 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:22.919 your family against this random existential violence. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:25.939 It makes her later obsession with security and 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:28.300 self -reliance completely understandable. It 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:31.360 frames everything. And that fear was just compounded 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.520 by loss. She had two surviving sisters, Shana 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.400 and Zipke. But five other siblings died in infancy, 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:40.979 which really speaks to the instability of life 00:02:40.979 --> 00:02:43.400 at that time in the pale of settlement. It was 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.099 a brutal environment. Survival was not a given. 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:48.659 So the decision to leave wasn't really a choice. 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:51.280 It was a necessity. Completely. Her father moved 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.659 first to New York City in 1903, but then he settled 00:02:53.659 --> 00:02:56.580 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by 1905. He got work 00:02:56.580 --> 00:02:58.199 in a railroad yard. And the rest of the family, 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:00.539 Golda, her sisters, her mother, Bloom, they joined 00:03:00.539 --> 00:03:02.830 him a year later. They did. They arrived in Quebec, 00:03:03.050 --> 00:03:05.330 took a train to Milwaukee, and her American life 00:03:05.330 --> 00:03:07.990 began with just this immediate heavy dose of 00:03:07.990 --> 00:03:10.229 responsibility. They ran a small grocery store 00:03:10.229 --> 00:03:12.669 to make ends meet, right? Her mother did, on 00:03:12.669 --> 00:03:15.030 the north side. And young Golda, who was just 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:17.250 eight years old, was often left in charge of 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:19.449 the whole shop. At eight years old? Mm -hmm. 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.389 When her mother went out to buy supplies or, 00:03:22.430 --> 00:03:24.569 you know, take care of other business, Golda 00:03:24.569 --> 00:03:27.189 ran the store. That's not a childhood. That's 00:03:27.189 --> 00:03:30.419 an immediate apprenticeship in... In practical 00:03:30.419 --> 00:03:33.120 leadership and problem solving. Absolutely. And 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.300 managing the public. It wasn't just about bagging 00:03:35.300 --> 00:03:38.159 groceries. It was handling money, customer relations, 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:41.199 all in a very demanding immigrant neighborhood. 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:43.199 You can see how that would forge a certain kind 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:45.580 of pragmatism in a person from a very young age. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:48.240 Oh, what an incredible organizational muscle. 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:51.099 And this is where we see the first little political 00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:53.699 spark. She's at Fourth Street Grade School, which, 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.939 by the way, was later renamed the Golda Meir 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:58.939 School. As it should be. In 1908, she and a friend. 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.500 Regina Hamburger organized something called the 00:04:01.500 --> 00:04:03.960 American Young Sisters Society. It sounds like 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:07.759 a social club, but it had a very specific, ambitious 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.919 goal. It did. It was a fundraiser to buy textbooks 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:13.699 for classmates who couldn't afford them. So this 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:15.639 wasn't just charity. You know, this was recognizing 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.839 a systemic problem in her little world and organizing 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:20.860 a political solution for it. And she didn't just 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:23.439 pass a hat around. No. She and her friend rented 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:25.819 a hall. They scheduled a public meeting for the 00:04:25.819 --> 00:04:28.040 event. She's 10 years old at this point. 10 years 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:31.139 old, taking on a major civic organizational task. 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:33.699 You can already see the instinct to move from 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:37.279 an idea to real public action. She was already 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:40.000 the future Iron Lady in miniature. Seeing a problem 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.800 and just mobilizing resources to fix it, no matter 00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:45.079 the scale. But the real intellectual explosion, 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:47.879 that came a bit later. That came in Denver. In 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:50.939 1913, she moved to live with her married sister, 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:54.920 Sheena Korngold. And Sheena's home was this intellectual 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:58.180 crucible. The sources describe these intense 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:01.300 evenings at their house, right? Not just casual 00:05:01.300 --> 00:05:04.319 chats. No, these were debates. Immigrants, students, 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:07.480 activists, all arguing passionately about Zionism, 00:05:07.579 --> 00:05:10.279 literature, trade unionism, women's suffrage. 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:12.319 It was a complete immersion course in progressive, 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.160 socialist, and nationalist thought. And Mare 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.720 herself said how important this was. She did. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:21.339 She wrote in her autobiography that those talk 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:23.980 -filled nights in Denver played a considerable 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:27.379 role in shaping her convictions. It was there 00:05:27.379 --> 00:05:30.199 she fully embraced labor Zionism. Which is the 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:33.040 idea that the Jewish national home had to be 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:36.959 built on socialist egalitarian principles tied 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:40.220 to the land and the working class. Exactly. And 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:42.699 that ideological commitment was immediately followed 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:45.600 by a personal one. She met Morris Meyerson, a 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.199 sign painter, a devoted socialist. And they married 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:51.160 in 1917. But the marriage came with a condition. 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:53.740 A non -negotiable political prerequisite, which 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:55.480 just speaks volumes. They had to make a Leah. 00:05:55.639 --> 00:05:57.439 They had to settle in Palestine. She was done 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:59.360 with the fragility of Europe, done with relying 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:01.300 on American goodwill. She was going to go build 00:06:01.300 --> 00:06:03.420 her own world. So that commitment was honored. 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:05.839 And this is the start of the next phase of her 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.199 life, the state building phase. In 1921, Golda 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:11.120 and Morris immigrate to Mandatory Palestine. 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:14.209 They eventually get accepted into Kibbutz Merhavia 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:15.970 in the Jezreel Valley. But they were rejected 00:06:15.970 --> 00:06:18.689 at first, right? They were. The Kibbutz members 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:21.029 were worried they looked too bourgeois, too American. 00:06:21.269 --> 00:06:24.230 But once they were in, she just dove into the 00:06:24.230 --> 00:06:26.970 physical labor, picking almonds, planting trees, 00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:29.709 working in the chicken coops. She wasn't an armchair 00:06:29.709 --> 00:06:32.589 activist. She was physically building the socialist 00:06:32.589 --> 00:06:35.269 ideal she believed in. But the movement, it turned 00:06:35.269 --> 00:06:39.120 out, needed her brain more than her hands. The 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:41.699 Kibbutz quickly realized her organizational talent 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:44.560 was far more valuable than her manual labor. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.259 So they chose her as their representative to 00:06:47.259 --> 00:06:49.860 the Histadrut. And that is a huge turning point. 00:06:49.899 --> 00:06:51.899 The Histadrut, the General Federation of Labor, 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.819 it was so much more than a trade union. Oh, it 00:06:53.819 --> 00:06:56.110 was the shadow government. It controlled infrastructure, 00:06:56.529 --> 00:06:58.810 housing, economic development, even military 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:01.389 recruitment. It was the state -in -waiting. And 00:07:01.389 --> 00:07:04.430 her rise within this powerful structure was fast. 00:07:04.769 --> 00:07:07.670 Very fast. By 1934, she's on the executive committee. 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:09.730 She's head of its political department. This 00:07:09.730 --> 00:07:11.350 was her national apprenticeship. She learned 00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:14.870 negotiation, large -scale administration, everything 00:07:14.870 --> 00:07:17.839 she'd need later. This period also brings her 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:20.759 face to face with international apathy in a really 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:24.420 profound way. The Evian Conference in 1938. She 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:26.519 travels to France as the Jewish observer from 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:29.480 Palestine. The conference was called by FDR to 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.920 discuss the crisis of Jewish refugees fleeing 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:34.500 the Nazis. And the outcome was just devastating. 00:07:34.779 --> 00:07:37.459 Delegates from 32 countries expressed sorrow, 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.680 deep sorrow. But almost universally refused to 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.360 admit the refugees. The world offered words, 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.819 not safety. The one exception was the Dominican 00:07:46.819 --> 00:07:49.879 Republic, which just underscored the global failure. 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:51.879 And this is where we see that childhood fear 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:54.560 connecting to her adult political persona. She 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.220 has this aha moment. Right then and there, she 00:07:57.220 --> 00:08:06.199 told the press, That one quote. It's the entire 00:08:06.199 --> 00:08:08.360 philosophy of Israeli real politics. We rely 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:10.980 on ourselves. We stop asking for charity. We 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:13.620 start building security. And that sentiment was 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:16.180 put to the test almost immediately. Yes. June 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:20.079 1946. Operation Agatha. The British arrest a 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:23.139 huge chunk of the Jewish agency leadership, including 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:26.000 Mosheret. And suddenly, Golda Meir is thrust 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:27.939 into the role of acting head of the political 00:08:27.939 --> 00:08:31.240 department. For two critical years leading up 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:34.519 to 1948, she's the main negotiator with the British. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.159 And the most pressing issue wasn't diplomacy. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.740 It was money. As the War of Independence loomed, 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.779 the Jewish agency was desperately broke. They 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:47.200 needed a massive war chest for weapons, for food, 00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:50.279 for everything. And the treasurer, the professional, 00:08:50.460 --> 00:08:52.840 was deeply pessimistic. He thought they could 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:56.460 raise at most maybe $7 or $8 million from American 00:08:56.460 --> 00:08:59.759 Jews. That was the expert consensus. And Golda 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:02.809 Meir just decided the experts were wrong. In 00:09:02.809 --> 00:09:05.549 January 1948, she goes on a fundraising tour 00:09:05.549 --> 00:09:08.230 to the U .S. Her appeal was incredibly direct, 00:09:08.330 --> 00:09:19.149 wasn't it? Very. She told audiences, And the 00:09:19.149 --> 00:09:21.909 response was just staggering. She raised over 00:09:21.909 --> 00:09:25.409 $30 million on that first tour. $30 million. 00:09:25.929 --> 00:09:28.149 To put that in perspective, that's nearly 15 00:09:28.149 --> 00:09:30.690 times what the opposing Arab Hire Committee had 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:33.149 for their entire annual budget. It was foundational. 00:09:33.570 --> 00:09:36.470 And her combined efforts brought in around $90 00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:39.450 million, which Ben -Gurion later said was about 00:09:39.450 --> 00:09:42.509 a third of the war's entire cost. He wrote that 00:09:42.509 --> 00:09:44.929 her role as the Jewish woman who got the money 00:09:44.929 --> 00:09:48.309 which made the state possible would go down in 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:51.379 history. It wasn't just fundraising. It was financially 00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:54.279 enabling survival. And with the funds being secured, 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:57.440 she moves right into high stakes secret diplomacy 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:00.539 just before the fighting broke out. The meeting 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:03.100 with King Abdullah I of Jordan. The only Arab 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:06.639 leader they thought might maybe ally with them 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:08.899 or at least stay neutral. The first meeting in 00:10:08.899 --> 00:10:11.620 November 47 went well. It was cordial, promising, 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:14.360 but the political situation just deteriorated 00:10:14.360 --> 00:10:16.860 so quickly after the UN partition plan. And that 00:10:16.860 --> 00:10:18.960 second meeting, just days before independence, 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:22.000 it's like something out of a spy novel. It really 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.620 is. Abdullah refused to meet her safely, so Meir 00:10:24.620 --> 00:10:28.000 agrees to travel to Amman, deep inside Transjordan, 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:31.559 secretly. Disguised as an elderly Arab woman. 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:33.960 She risked everything. She asked him about his 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.139 earlier promise to stay out of the fight, and 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:38.580 his response was just tragic. He told her he 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:41.399 was no longer his own man. He was one of five, 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:43.899 referring to the Arab elite. He was forced to 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:47.120 invade. He proposed a compromise, that the Jewish 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:49.659 territory be integrated into a larger Jordanian 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.399 state with some representation. But she refused 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.039 to compromise on sovereignty. The talks failed. 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.779 War was now inevitable. And just three days later, 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:02.120 on May 14, 1948, she's in Tel Aviv. one of only 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.899 two women among the 24 signatories of the Israeli 00:11:04.899 --> 00:11:07.399 Declaration of Independence. She said she cried 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:09.740 afterward, realizing that after all the talking, 00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:12.759 they're finally real people doing something real. 00:11:12.980 --> 00:11:15.240 So Israel is independent and immediately at war. 00:11:15.940 --> 00:11:18.519 Golda's work transitions instantly into governance. 00:11:18.779 --> 00:11:21.899 Her first official role, though, is a bit surprising. 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.679 Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Right. An ironic 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:26.620 and frustrating post for her. She was born in 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:29.460 Kiev, but spoke no Russian. And she desperately 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:31.259 wanted to be in Israel helping with the war. 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:34.159 But the role was geopolitically vital. And we 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:36.620 should mention a fun fact here. During her fundraising, 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.500 she was issued the very first Israeli passport. 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.519 That's right. And while the ambassadorship was 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.019 frustrating, it gave her one of the most powerful 00:11:45.019 --> 00:11:48.139 emotional moments of her entire career. The visit 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:51.100 to the Moscow Coral Synagogue. On Rosh Hashanah, 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:55.519 October 1948. It turned into this massive, impromptu 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:59.019 demonstration. 50 ,000 Russian Jews poured into 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:01.419 the streets just to see her. Chanting, Nasha 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:04.940 Golda, our Golda. She said she was caught in 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:07.639 a torrent of love so strong that it had literally 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:10.740 taken my breath away. That scene was so iconic, 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:12.980 it was later put on the 10 ,000 shekel banknote. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:15.779 But diplomatically, the job was a dead end. Stalin 00:12:15.779 --> 00:12:18.320 was cracking down on Jewish institutions, on 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.100 emigration. She felt she accomplished very little. 00:12:21.220 --> 00:12:23.740 So she pushed her return. And by early 1949, 00:12:24.120 --> 00:12:27.139 she did. She ran for the first Nesset, won, and 00:12:27.139 --> 00:12:29.080 Ben -Gurion offers her deputy prime minister. 00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:31.399 In a classic Golda move, she turns it down. She 00:12:31.399 --> 00:12:33.899 did. She found the role too vague, too ceremonial. 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:35.379 She wasn't a coordinator, she was a builder. 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:38.580 An executor. She wanted a job with real direct 00:12:38.580 --> 00:12:41.519 power to get things done. Exactly. So instead 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.740 she chose the Ministry of Labor. And she called 00:12:43.740 --> 00:12:46.919 the next seven years from 49 to 56 her seven 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:49.679 beautiful years. Which seems like a strange thing 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.399 to call such a stressful period. But it was where 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.519 she could apply her socialist ideology and organizational 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:59.779 skills most directly. This was the period of 00:12:59.779 --> 00:13:03.200 massive aliyah. Millions of new immigrants arriving. 00:13:03.820 --> 00:13:06.320 Many with nothing. And she becomes the state's 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:08.740 chief social engineer. Her ministry was responsible 00:13:08.740 --> 00:13:10.919 not just for jobs, but for physically housing 00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:13.960 them. The scale is hard to comprehend. We're 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:15.820 talking about initiating the construction of 00:13:15.820 --> 00:13:18.899 200 ,000 apartments and 30 ,000 houses in just 00:13:18.899 --> 00:13:22.220 seven years. Massive road construction. She was 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:24.440 literally building the physical reality of the 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.340 state and the welfare state, too. Yes. She was 00:13:27.340 --> 00:13:29.340 its architect. Yeah. The finance ministry was 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:31.779 constantly complaining about the cost. But she 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:33.879 pushed through Social Security, paternity benefits, 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.399 accident insurance. The basic social safety net 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:39.539 that defined the new state. Now, we have to talk 00:13:39.539 --> 00:13:41.500 about the big controversy of this period. The 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:44.720 ma 'abarat, the temporary transit camps. Right. 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.460 The housing was often crude, tin -roofed huts. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:50.500 The criticism was severe. People felt it was 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:53.000 an unacceptable quality of life, a failure of 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.379 the socialist ideal. But it was a trade -off, 00:13:55.379 --> 00:13:57.779 wasn't it? An impossible one. It was born of 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:00.269 necessity. She defended it by pointing to the 00:14:00.269 --> 00:14:02.649 tiny budget and the sheer urgency of housing 00:14:02.649 --> 00:14:05.289 hundreds of thousands of people who were arriving 00:14:05.289 --> 00:14:07.730 faster than they could possibly build permanent 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:10.509 towns. And by 1956, she had helped eliminate 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.909 two -thirds of them. Right, moving 120 ,000 families 00:14:13.909 --> 00:14:16.870 to permanent housing. It was a controversial 00:14:16.870 --> 00:14:19.769 but ultimately temporary solution to an overwhelming 00:14:19.769 --> 00:14:23.100 challenge. That successful domestic period eventually 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:26.299 gives way to the international stage. In 1956, 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:29.559 Ben -Gurion makes her foreign minister. And this 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:31.399 is when she officially changes her name from 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:35.279 Meyerson to Meir, which means illuminate, a common 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:37.360 practice for Foreign Service members. And her 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.200 tenure begins with immediate drama. The Suez 00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:42.769 Crisis. Israel coordinates with Britain and France 00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:45.870 against Egypt. Meir has to lead the Israeli delegation 00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.149 at the UN, which was a tough assignment because 00:14:48.149 --> 00:14:51.309 the US and the USSR actually sided together and 00:14:51.309 --> 00:14:54.070 forced a withdrawal. But despite that early setback, 00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:56.350 the lasting success of her time as foreign minister 00:14:56.350 --> 00:14:59.429 was her outreach to Africa. That was geopolitically 00:14:59.429 --> 00:15:02.350 brilliant. She promoted ties with all these newly 00:15:02.350 --> 00:15:05.389 independent African states. She believed Israel, 00:15:05.570 --> 00:15:08.889 having just shaken off foreign rule itself, could 00:15:08.889 --> 00:15:11.600 be a unique model for them. Unlike the old colonial 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.539 powers. Right. Israel could offer practical advice 00:15:14.539 --> 00:15:16.659 on things like agriculture and water management. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.320 It built crucial goodwill and alliances during 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:21.480 the Cold War. She also worked hard on the relationship 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:24.740 with the U .S. A key success there was in 1962, 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.600 convincing Washington to quietly sell advanced 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:31.860 Hawk missiles to Israel, a critical step. But 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.899 by late 1965, the workload and her health caught 00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.789 up with her. A diagnosis of lymphoma. She retired 00:15:37.789 --> 00:15:41.370 in January 1966, citing exhaustion. But of course, 00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:42.950 she wouldn't be out of politics for very long. 00:15:43.009 --> 00:15:45.990 No, she would not. Fate intervenes in early 1969. 00:15:46.269 --> 00:15:49.429 Prime Minister Levi Eshkol dies suddenly. And 00:15:49.429 --> 00:15:51.710 the Governing Alignment Party coalition was fractured. 00:15:51.809 --> 00:15:54.610 They needed a strong, unifying figure. And so 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:56.529 they turned to Golda Meir, who was 71 at the 00:15:56.529 --> 00:15:58.470 time and technically retired. It's a classic 00:15:58.470 --> 00:16:01.429 draft the reluctant leader scenario. And she 00:16:01.429 --> 00:16:04.820 leads them to this immense victory. in the election 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:08.820 that followed. 56 seats in an esset. That's the 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:11.639 closest any single faction has ever come to an 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:14.000 outright majority in Israeli history. But her 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.039 premiership is just defined by crisis after crisis. 00:16:17.460 --> 00:16:19.700 And before we get to the Yom Kippur War, we have 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:21.620 to address the quote that has followed her ever 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:24.860 since. The Palestinian issue. Absolutely. In 00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:28.000 a June 1969 interview, just months after she 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.179 took office, she said that there was no such 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:32.919 thing as Palestinians. She added, When was there 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:35.179 an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:38.419 state? They did not exist. And that statement 00:16:38.419 --> 00:16:40.860 is cited as the most famous example of Israeli 00:16:40.860 --> 00:16:44.419 denial of Palestinian national identity. It's 00:16:44.419 --> 00:16:46.539 become, as one analysis puts it, one of her most 00:16:46.539 --> 00:16:50.000 damning legacies. Now, to report on this impartially, 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:51.860 we have to understand the context of what she 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:54.059 was arguing. She was speaking from a very strict 00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:56.730 historical state -centric perspective. Her argument 00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:58.450 was that before the British Mandate, there was 00:16:58.450 --> 00:17:01.690 no political entity called Palestine and no organized 00:17:01.690 --> 00:17:04.029 Palestinian government demanding statehood. In 00:17:04.029 --> 00:17:06.490 her view, the land was part of the Ottoman province 00:17:06.490 --> 00:17:09.069 of Syria, and so the people didn't have a unique, 00:17:09.170 --> 00:17:11.630 recognized national identity separate from the 00:17:11.630 --> 00:17:14.650 broader Arab world. But that argument, whatever 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:17.789 its historical merits, completely dismissed the 00:17:17.789 --> 00:17:20.150 emerging national identity and political aspirations 00:17:20.150 --> 00:17:24.240 of the local Arab population. It crystallized 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:27.160 the Israeli establishment's refusal to recognize 00:17:27.160 --> 00:17:30.500 the legitimacy of a distinct Palestinian national 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.700 movement. And yet what's fascinating is that 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:34.759 while holding this view, she was also engaged 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:37.140 in pretty exhausting peace efforts. Oh, yeah. 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:39.420 Meeting with Nixon, with the pope. She was serious 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:41.940 about peace, but always on Israel's terms of 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:44.950 security. Like in 1970, when she accepted a U 00:17:44.950 --> 00:17:47.069 .S. peace initiative, it called for withdrawal 00:17:47.069 --> 00:17:50.269 to secure and recognized boundaries. A huge political 00:17:50.269 --> 00:17:53.269 step. Yeah. And it immediately caused the right 00:17:53.269 --> 00:17:56.130 wing Gahal party to quit her national unity government 00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.990 in protest. She was constantly walking this tightrope. 00:17:59.089 --> 00:18:01.650 A perfect example is that security versus sovereignty 00:18:01.650 --> 00:18:04.670 proposal in early 73 with Kissinger. The deal 00:18:04.670 --> 00:18:07.630 was Israel would accept Egyptian sovereignty 00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:11.099 over all of the Sinai. but only if Egypt accepted 00:18:11.099 --> 00:18:14.059 an Israeli military presence in key strategic 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:16.480 positions within the Sinai. So she'd give up 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.900 the legal claim, but not the physical security 00:18:18.900 --> 00:18:20.920 buffer. And that fell short of what Egyptian 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:24.000 President Anwar Sadat was demanding. So the path 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:27.319 to war remained open. But the crisis that truly 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:30.059 defined her decisiveness came a year earlier. 00:18:30.460 --> 00:18:33.759 The 1972 Munich Massacre. Following that horrific 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:36.799 attack at the Olympics, Meir was devastated and 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.940 furious. She appealed to the world to take action 00:18:39.940 --> 00:18:42.579 and said if they didn't, Israel would. And when 00:18:42.579 --> 00:18:45.359 she felt the world wasn't acting, that no -sympathy 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.759 mentality kicked in? Her response was immediate 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.640 and uncompromising. She ordered the MASA to launch 00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:53.279 Operation Wrath of God. A campaign to hunt down 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:55.599 and assassinate suspected leaders of Black September 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:58.519 and the PFLP across Europe and the Middle East. 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:00.740 It was an incredible escalation, moving from 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.480 defense to proactive covert warfare on an international 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:06.359 stage. It showed the Iron Lady would make brutal 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.740 decisions for security, regardless of international 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:11.599 norms. But her defining moment, the source of 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:14.240 most of the criticism against her, is the Yom 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:17.799 Kippur War, October 1973. It's a case study in 00:19:17.799 --> 00:19:20.000 intelligence failure and political calculation 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.200 under the highest possible pressure. The stage 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.500 had been set by a deep sense of security complacency 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:29.640 in Israel, the Concepcia. They were sure Egypt 00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:32.059 wouldn't attack until they had air superiority. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:34.559 And that complacency was just violently shattered. 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:37.700 On October 5th, 1973, she gets these alarming 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:40.460 reports. Syrian forces massing on the Golan, 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:43.460 Egyptian forces on the Suez. And she was personally 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:46.460 alarmed. She saw the parallels to 1967. But her 00:19:46.460 --> 00:19:48.559 military intelligence advisors, they insisted 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:51.319 the likelihood of war was low. They were sure 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:53.240 they'd get adequate notice. And this all comes 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:56.140 to a head in those frantic final hours of deliberation, 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:58.480 six hours before the attack. She's in a meeting 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.759 with Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and General 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.599 David Elazar. Dayan still favors just a small, 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.519 limited call. But Eleazar, he urges full mobilization 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:10.359 and a preemptive airstrike. And this is the key 00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:13.819 decision. Mir approves the full -scale mobilization, 00:20:14.019 --> 00:20:18.660 which was crucial. She overrode Diane. But she 00:20:18.660 --> 00:20:21.740 rejected the preemptive strike. Why? This was 00:20:21.740 --> 00:20:24.119 a purely political and geopolitical calculation, 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:27.779 wasn't it? Entirely. Her number one concern was 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:30.339 that if Israel fired first, they would be seen 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:32.670 as the aggressor. And that would cost them crucial 00:20:32.670 --> 00:20:35.509 foreign aid and military support, specifically 00:20:35.509 --> 00:20:38.750 from the United States. She was sacrificing tactical 00:20:38.750 --> 00:20:41.269 surprise for long -term strategic insurance. 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:43.910 She needed to guarantee that if the war dragged 00:20:43.910 --> 00:20:47.009 on, the most powerful superpower on Earth would 00:20:47.009 --> 00:20:49.529 resupply them. She was never going to be reliant 00:20:49.529 --> 00:20:51.950 on mere expressions of sympathy again. And that 00:20:51.950 --> 00:20:53.849 calculation was confirmed, wasn't it? By the 00:20:53.849 --> 00:20:56.259 highest authority. Henry Kissinger later said 00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:58.599 explicitly that if Israel had launched a preemptive 00:20:58.599 --> 00:21:00.599 strike, they would not have received the essential 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.140 U .S. arms and backing they needed to turn the 00:21:03.140 --> 00:21:05.799 tide of the war. So that decision saved the relationship, 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.460 but it meant absorbing devastating losses at 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.119 the beginning. The severe, unexpected losses 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:13.660 in those first few days caused just widespread 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:16.779 national shock and anger. Even after the military 00:21:16.779 --> 00:21:20.039 turned the tide, the public wanted answers. An 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:22.420 inquiry was launched, the Agronaut Commission. 00:21:23.069 --> 00:21:25.650 And it spent months investigating the failures. 00:21:25.890 --> 00:21:27.670 And while the commission found immense failures 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:29.529 among the military and intelligence community, 00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:32.869 it specifically cleared Mayer of direct responsibility 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:35.630 for the surprise attack. In fact, it praised 00:21:35.630 --> 00:21:38.390 her. It said she decided wisely with common sense 00:21:38.390 --> 00:21:41.130 and speedily in favor of the full mobilization 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:44.049 of the reserves. That decision was seen as her 00:21:44.049 --> 00:21:46.769 great clear -headed action in the crisis. But 00:21:46.769 --> 00:21:48.789 despite that vindication, the political damage 00:21:48.789 --> 00:21:51.809 was just irreversible. Her party won the 1973 00:21:51.809 --> 00:21:55.019 election. but the coalition lost seats. The national 00:21:55.019 --> 00:21:57.500 trauma had fractured the mandate. So she resigned 00:21:57.500 --> 00:22:00.539 in April 1974. She said five years was enough, 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:02.960 that continuing the burden was beyond her strength. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.500 And she never held office again. She spent her 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:08.559 final years, relatively quietly, writing her 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.119 autobiography, My Life, which became a bestseller. 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:13.799 And there's one final, incredibly moving diplomatic 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:17.279 moment for her in 1977. When Egyptian President 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:20.700 Anwar Sadat makes his historic visit to the Nesset. 00:22:21.049 --> 00:22:23.490 Mayer was there. She spoke on behalf of the Labor 00:22:23.490 --> 00:22:26.930 Party. And she praised Sadat's courage and vision. 00:22:27.150 --> 00:22:29.890 It was this moment of profound political closure. 00:22:30.230 --> 00:22:33.789 The woman who fought him so bitterly in 73, finally 00:22:33.789 --> 00:22:35.990 acknowledging the real possibility of peace. 00:22:36.309 --> 00:22:39.150 Golda Mayer died of lymphoma in 1978 at the age 00:22:39.150 --> 00:22:42.029 of 80. Her personal life was often obscured by 00:22:42.029 --> 00:22:44.509 her career, but she was, you know, a heavy smoker, 00:22:44.589 --> 00:22:46.869 a coffee drinker. And it's important to remember 00:22:46.869 --> 00:22:49.309 her relationship with faith. She was an atheist, 00:22:49.430 --> 00:22:52.650 but had this incredibly powerful cultural and 00:22:52.650 --> 00:22:54.789 historical Jewish identity. The famous quote, 00:22:54.970 --> 00:22:57.329 I believe in the Jewish people and the Jewish 00:22:57.329 --> 00:23:00.359 people believe in God. To her, being Jewish was 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:02.740 about the 2 ,000 -year struggle and the ultimate 00:23:02.740 --> 00:23:04.980 creation of the state she helped found. That 00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:07.119 was the fulfillment of her life's purpose. So 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.019 when we look at the historical consensus, we 00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:11.599 see that duality so clearly. Most historians 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:13.880 agree she was a huge success as minister of labor 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:16.420 and housing. A true social engineer, but had 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:19.000 a much less successful crisis -ridden run as 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.890 prime minister. She is immortalized as the Iron 00:23:21.890 --> 00:23:25.029 Lady, a state founder commemorated in films and 00:23:25.029 --> 00:23:28.349 plays. But her legacy is also indelibly tied 00:23:28.349 --> 00:23:31.849 to the trauma of 1973 and her dismissive view 00:23:31.849 --> 00:23:34.309 of Palestinian national identity. She was both 00:23:34.309 --> 00:23:37.210 the architect of stability and perhaps a victim 00:23:37.210 --> 00:23:40.029 of her own hubris. And on a lighter note, there 00:23:40.029 --> 00:23:42.710 is that lasting cultural reference, Golda shoes. 00:23:43.430 --> 00:23:47.029 Nali Golda, the sturdy, practical, very unglamorous 00:23:47.029 --> 00:23:49.619 orthopedic shoes she always wore. They were so 00:23:49.619 --> 00:23:52.200 associated with her no -nonsense style that they 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.279 were actually supplied to female soldiers in 00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.160 the IDF for years. It's a small detail, but it's 00:23:57.160 --> 00:23:59.559 a testament to her enduring practical footprint 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:02.700 on Israeli life. She was a study in uncompromising 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:05.700 will. What a monumental journey from organizing 00:24:05.700 --> 00:24:08.819 a fundraiser for textbooks in Milwaukee to securing 00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:10.759 the financial lifeline for a nation and then 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:13.539 making that life or death decision hours before 00:24:13.539 --> 00:24:15.980 a war. And we detailed how she prioritized that 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:18.039 strategic relationship with the U .S. by refusing 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:20.519 a preemptive strike, a decision Kissinger confirmed 00:24:20.519 --> 00:24:22.640 was necessary to get that superpower support. 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:25.160 It ensured long term survival, but at the immediate 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:27.539 cost of thousands of lives and a national trauma. 00:24:27.849 --> 00:24:30.109 Which raises an important final question for 00:24:30.109 --> 00:24:32.650 you, the listener. In a young nation's fight 00:24:32.650 --> 00:24:35.509 for survival, how must a leader balance immediate 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:38.509 tactical gain, that element of surprise, against 00:24:38.509 --> 00:24:41.250 the absolute strategic necessity of securing 00:24:41.250 --> 00:24:44.289 a superpower ally for the long war ahead? It 00:24:44.289 --> 00:24:46.230 is the ultimate trade -off, and Golda Meir lived 00:24:46.230 --> 00:24:47.869 through the harrowing consequences of making 00:24:47.869 --> 00:24:48.109 it.