- David Ben Gurion.
For many, the name likely rouses imagery
of a bold revolutionary, an idealistic founder
and well, an airport.
Israel's first prime minister was a critical figure
in the conception and realization of the nation
but the magnitude of his impact can only be matched
by his complexities, his clashes and his struggles.
So here are the top nuances of David Ben Gurion's
life and work that you might not have learned
in history class.
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David Ben-Gurion was known for his wide variety of ideas.
A sort of Jewish Ben Franklin.
A modern Leonardo da Vinci
but what many people don't realize is that many of his ideas
were borrowed from other people.
He just helped make them a reality.
So founding a Jewish state, that idea was actually
popularized by Theodor Herzl.
Ben-Gurion was passionate about the state,
working as the leader of the pre-state militia
known as the Hagana, negotiating with the British
and preparing for an inevitable clash
with the surrounding Arab nations.
But the idea of a Jewish state started gaining steam
around 1896, when Ben-Gurion was only 10.
As a liberal socialist Ben-Gurion,
certainly identified with the early political
and economic policies of the fledgling country
but he didn't invent these movements.
Labor Zionism the idea of cultivating a national identity
through a connection with the land,
that credit goes to these guys, among others.
Okay, so what does Ben-Gurion get credit for
if the vast majority of his political accomplishments
weren't started by him at all?
Well he may not have started them
but he sure did execute them.
He took those dreams and turned them into actions.
If Hertz was the quarterback, Ben-Gurion was the
wide receiver running into the end zone.
The early Zionist movement was closely intertwined
with the Socialist spirit of the working class.
A sort of political peanut butter and jelly if you will
and Ben-Gurion was at the forefront of it all.
In 1921, Ben-Gurion was elected secretary general
of the Histadrut, transforming an organization
of workers in what was then Palestine
into a unified labor force.
He saw that unity was the backbone of Zionism.
This also helps new immigrants acclimate
into Israeli society, giving them work
and a sense of purpose.
Ben-Gurion saw this synergy between the workers
and the economy as essential to the country's development.
Before the state was established,
Jews in Palestine had three militias
with very different military philosophies
that often came into conflict.
The Irgun, the Haganah and Lechi.
Ben-Gurion led the Haganah which was far more diplomatic
than the others.
He was so committed to defense and restraint
with his militia that he insisted on no retaliation
for Arab attacks against civilians
and strictly emphasized a self-defense only attitude.
Where the Irgun picked fights with the British,
Ben-Gurion's Haganah did all they could
to maintain some sort of bond,
in hopes of preserving diplomacy.
When Britain enacted the 1939 White Paper
calling for a Jewish home within a fully Palestinian state
Ben-Gurion had serious problems,
as the policy brought Jewish immigration
practically to a halt at a time when it was essential.
But despite the dilemma, he maintained diplomatic relations
encouraging the Jewish population to join
the British Army in World War II.
He was famously quoted as saying,
"We shall fight in the war against Hitler
"as if there were no White Paper,
"but we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war"
Then there was the highly controversial,
arguably aggressive, Plan Daled,
which was very uncharacteristic of Ben-Gurion.
After the UN proposed a plan to partition the land
into two separate states in 1947,
the Jews of Palestine found themselves in a dire situation.
Though they didn't get nearly as much land as they wanted
the leaders accepted it.
The Arab leaders on the other hand,
rejected the plan completely,
vowing to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean sea.
Violence increased with thousands of fighters
from nearby Arab nations, infiltrating Palestine
and eventually establishing a blockade,
stopping supplies from reaching
the 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem.
In March 1948, under Ben-Gurion's direction,
the Haganah developed Plan Daled.
Not plan A, not plan B, not even plan C
but the Hebrew equivalent of plan D as a last resort.
It was a controversial proposal to secure
and fortify the borders of the Jewish sections
of the newly partitioned land.
Now keep in mind, land allocated for the Jewish state
was tiny and almost indefensible given it's narrow borders.
To help ensure its security,
the Jewish forces decided to minimize the potential threat
imposed by Arab villages in strategic locations.
Plan Daled gave Israel the ability to establish
the strategic defensive borders it needed
but some historians also point to it
as a factor that led to the Palestinian refugee issue
that the world is still struggling with today.
After declaring independence Ben-Gurion united
the pre-state militias into a single defensive force,
the IDF, but in doing so he also instituted a draft
that to this day, sees most Jewish-Israeli 18 year olds
serving for two to three years.
With a national population of about
630,000 Jews at the time, a purely volunteer army
would give Israel nowhere near enough manpower,
to stand up to even one attacking nation, let alone five.
But service as an obligation every Israel citizen
would receive military training,
in effect creating a people's army.
That would even include women between the ages of 18 and 28
as long as they didn't have children.
Today Israel's one of only eight countries
that include women in the draft.
On the other hand, Ben-Gurion allowed for the exemption
of full-time students studying Torah from enlisting
a policy that continues to be hotly debated today.
Still by making it a people's army,
Ben-Gurion created the most powerful force
to unify the citizens of the new country,
despite differences in the language, culture
and level of observance.
The Law of Return is one of the most transformative
pieces of Israeli legislation,
opening the door of citizenship to any Jew,
no matter race, denomination or country of origin
was a hallmark of the tiny new nation.
Ben-Gurion was quite possibly
the policy's biggest champion.
He strongly believed that the influx of immigrants
was essential to the new country's population
and set immigration as a top priority.
The Knesset, Israels parliament, unanimously approved
the Law of Return in 1950,
when Arab countries expelled, or encouraged
their Jewish citizens to leave in retaliation.
Israel declaring it's independence,
the law allowed for no less than 700,000 Yemenite,
Iraqi, Moroccan and other Mizrahi Jews to immigrate.
Despite his enthusiasm for the Law of Return though,
Ben-Gurion didn't have the greatest respect
for this Mizrahi community and was concerned
about their impact on Israel culture.
Meanwhile he became frustrated
when American Jewish communities, didn't immediately
pack up and move to Israel.
Obviously this didn't create many friends
among American Zionists.
But in the end, many Americans did come around.
By the 1970s, American immigration to Israel
reached a peak of 10,000 people annually.
To this day, two to three thousand American immigrants
arrive every year.
After the end of World War II, there was much discussion
whether Germany and other countries owed
reparations for the Holocaust.
Many survivors were vehemently opposed
to reparations of any kind.
To them, it implied that money could make up
for the brutality, suffering theft, and mass murder.
But Ben-Gurion recognized that there were realities
to running a new vulnerable country.
Shortages, and rationing were rampant
and many survivors of the Nazi camps
needed proper rehabilitation.
Admitting Germany's guilt was a major concession
but it would also aid in West Germany's agenda
to more quickly become accepted by the western powers.
Menachem Begin, another Israeli founder
and Ben-Gurion's rival, fervently opposed the agreement,
having suffered the loss of own parents in the Holocaust.
Thousands of other survivors and children of survivors
were similarly disgusted by the idea.
Ben-Gurion responded with a more pragmatic argument.
He said, "I don't want to run after a German
and spit in his face.
"I don't want to run after anybody.
"I want to sit here and build here."
In September 1952, he accepted a controversial
billion dollars in reparations,
an amount that today would be close to 10 billion dollars.
On May 23rd, 1960, Ben-Gurion declared proudly
to the Knesset and the world,
that one of the worst Nazi war criminals,
Adolf Eichmann had been arrested and brought to Israel
to stand trial.
Now you remember when Obama announced that we got Bin Laden?
Take that and multiply it by like a zillion!
Knowing Argentina was a haven for ex-Nazis
Ben-Gurion had arranged for Mossad agents
to capture Eichmann and bring him to Israel to stand trial.
By the way, how this happened was super cool
and you can either check out the movie Operation Finale
or our video on the Eichmann trial.
The trial wasn't just a forum to bring one of
history's ruthless monsters to justice,
it also opened the lid on the trauma that was the holocaust.
Before the trial, survivors had mostly kept quiet.
Rarely opening up about the horrors they had endured
but Eichmann's trial helped bring that truth out
as thousands of survivors finally opened up,
overcoming the stigmas and survivor's guilt
so many of them had endured after being free.
On a deeper level, this trial was also a declaration
that the Jewish people would no longer be bullied.
United in their homeland, Israeli Jews
were showing the world that they refused to be the helpless
tortured victims of the past.
Eichmann's trial was Ben-Gurion's way of establishing
that once and for all.
When Ben-Gurion finally retired from politics in 1970,
he settled down in a small and humble kibbutz Sde Boker
in the Negev, or Southern Israel.
But one of the things he continued to advocate for
in the final years of his life
was developing the Negev desert.
The former prime minister was insistent
that one of the keys to Israel's future
depended on the advancement of 4700 square miles of desert
which is literally half of Israel's land mass.
He felt it was a crucial test,
which would lead to the development of technologies
such as desalination of salt water,
solar and wind power and understanding the vegetation
of the arid climate that all would be essential
for Israel's survival.
Given that today technology is
Israel's most developed industry,
he just might have been onto something.
David Ben-Gurion died of complications from a stroke
on December 1st 1973, during the Yom Kippur War.
Even though he had dedicated his life to Israel
and for years worked through chaos as its head of state
he valued simplicity and lived by that philosophy
in his retirement.
You can actually visit the Ben-Gurion home.
A perfectly maintained freeze-frame
of how he lived in the Negev.
Property with no more than a few rooms.
A testament to his modesty and simple life he loved.
Thanks for watching, see you guys next week.
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