2. 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.
3. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
