Zionism and the Holy Land: Golda Meir

  Golda Meir (1898-1978) became Israel’s fourth prime minister in 1969.  As a leading Zionist, Ms. Meir supported the political movement to establish and develop a national homeland for Jews in Palestine.  Jews regarded Palestine as their historical home.  Born in the Ukraine, Golda Meir moved with her family to Wisconsin in 1906.  The family had moved to the United States to escape pogroms in the Ukraine.  A pogrom was an organized attack on and persecution of the Jewish people.  Fleeing anti-Semitism (prejudice against the Jews), Golda Meir became a proponent of Zionism, particularly because she believed Jews would only be safe from persecution in their own homeland.  In 1921, Golda Meir and her husband moved to Palestine to work for the creation of a Jewish state.  After years of working tirelessly for the creation of a Jewish homeland, Meir’s dream was realized in 1947 with the founding of Israel.    

Primary Source: An excerpt from Golda Meir’s Speech before the Council of Federations in Chicago, January 2, 1948

“…We always had faith that in the end we would win, that everything we were doing in the country led to the independence of the Jewish people and to a Jewish state. Long before we had dared pronounce that word, we knew what was in store for us...I want to say to you, friends that the Jewish community in Palestine is going to fight to the very end. If we have arms to fight with, we will fight with those, and if not, we will fight with stones in our hands... During the last few years, the Jewish people lost 6,000,000 Jews, and it would be audacity on our part to worry the Jewish people throughout the world because a few hundred thousand more Jews were in danger. That is not the issue. The issue is that if these 700,000 Jews in Palestine can remain alive, then the Jewish people as such is alive and Jewish independence is assured. If these 700,000 people are killed off, then for many centuries, we are through with this dream of a Jewish people and a Jewish homeland..."

Questions:

1: Who was Golda Meir? ________________________________________________________________________

2: Why did Golda Meir become a Zionist? ________________________________________________________________________

3: How did Zionism lead to the founding of Israel? ________________________________________________________________________

4: According to the primary source, why will the Jewish community in Palestine fight? ________________________________________________________________________

5: According to the primary source, why is a Jewish homeland important? ________________________________________________________________________