What makes your person Notable?

 

Notable people can be found through time and the world, notable people don't always working in the same field of work, but they all show the same morals. Notable people show great strength and when faced with challenges they never back down. Truly notable people always persist and most importantly never ever give up, no matter who stands in their way they will only stop when the job has been done in the right way. Notable people thrive under pressure, and stay resilient when all hope seems to be lost. Notable people will always put the lives of others in front of their own, and they will make sure that they will accomplish their goals without sacrificing their morals. 

 

It was the 16th of October 1886 when David Gurion was born in Plonsk Poland. From a very young age David understood how politics worked, especially in Poland. Around the 1890's the seeds of antisemitism in Poland were planted, but nothing really cemented until Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany. David was the youngest of three boys, and from a young age he learned both polish and Hebrew. Due to financial problems in the family after David's Bar Mitzvah his dad had to take him out of school. A Bar Mitzvah is a ceremony that all religious and semi-religious Jewish boys Complete at the age of 13, this ceremony marks the boys childhood coming to an end and adult life beginning. Jewish girls can have a similar ceremony called a Bat Mitzvah. He said many times that if he had never had a Mar Mitzvah he wouldn't of been nearly as successful. 

 

During David's childhood his dad Avigdor or Victor was one of the leaders in a movement called, 'the lovers of Zion'. 'The Lovers of Zion' worked to eliminated Jewish oppression, and return Jews to their homeland of Israel (at the time Israel wasn't an independent country). David was absorbed by the idea of Zionism and grew up to be one of the big believers in the movement. Zionists are people who believe they that all Jews deserve health care and Essential resources. They also help source and deliver the resources to the Jewish people. 

 

When David turned 20 he moved to Palestine where he became a farmer on the grassy plains of Galilee. While he was working there he had to deal with hunger and malaria, but nothing ever stopped him from losing sight of his goals. At the beginning of World War One David was arrested because the Ottoman Empire thought that his beliefs in Zionism would lead to  disadvantage in the upcoming war. Shortly after he was expelled from the Empire and eventually made his way to New York. A few weeks after he arrived in New York he met  Pauline Munweis his future wife who had travelled from her homeland of Russia only months before David arrived in the 'Big Apple'. 

 

On November second 1917 the British government's Balfour Declaration promised European Jews a home in Palestine. After David found out about this amazing news he insisted in the British Army's Jewish Legion. The Jewish Legion was an unofficial name for the five battalions of Jewish volunteers who worked together for five years to bring down the Ottoman Empire during the height of the First World War. For David he joined the legion so that he could free Palistine Ottoman rule.  

 

By the time the Jewish Legion had reached the battlefield, Great Britain had defeated the Ottoman Empire and the idea of the Jewish national home had been created. For David this was a step in the Right direction to gifting the Jewish people a home in Palistine. David went to great lengths to create the independent country of Israel, this is one reason that I consider him notable. He once said "In order to be a realist, you have to believe in miracles." To me this quote explains a lot of things, but what stood out to me was the fact that he didn't just work hard, he believed that eventually with all his hard work it would lead to a miracle. In this case the miracle was Israel. 

 

In 1930 a number of small Jewish political groups merged to become the Masai or in English the Israeli workers party. David was elected the chief executive of the political group. The Masai was a socialist democratic political group that lasted until 1968 when it merged to become a modern day party. David led them from 1930 to 1954 and even after he retired the party stayed a dominant force in Israeli politics. After it's merge in 1968 it became the Israeli Labour Party which is still the most successful political party in Israel. 

 

In 1935 David Ben Gurion was named chairman of the Zionist executive, at the time this executive was the highest ranking Zionist executive in the world. The Zionist executive was a branch of the Jewish Agency, the same Agency that David was the president of. In 1935 as the Jewish communities were settling into living in Palestine, Arab citizens started to retaliate. They started to retaliate because they believed that these intruders had stolen they're land without any valid reason. These civil wars would worsen every year and eventually they started to turn into wars.  

 

As head of the Jewish Agency he tried to explain to the Arabs why they wanted the land but nothing worked. In my opinion he tried everything he could but he could see that it was never going to work. I believe that he showed real courage and strength, even when the Arabs were trying to tear him and the Jewish Agency down. At the end of World War Two, David led the Jewish community past the British mandate. In 1948 the day finally came, David stood in the new found city of Jerusalem and hoisted up the Israeli flag, founding the state of Israel. The Israeli flag has two parallel blue lines with a Magen David or in English star of David, in between. The area in between is white. On multiple occasions David said that this moment was the best part of his life. 

 

When he was elected Prime Minister he was also appointed minister of Defense because at the time they had no one who wanted to fill that position. Him being minister of Defense he was successful in breaking up the under group armies that were fighting in the heart of Jerusalem. In 1949 Israel led by Ben Gurion joined forces with Great Britain to create one big army. This army was made up of the whole Israeli military as well as multiple battalions of British soldiers. This mega army was used to defend Israel from countries such as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq who all had the same reason to want to decimate Israel. They all wanted to destroy Israel because they believed that their land had been stolen. Even though theoretically Israel won the many battles, to this day wars are endless between Israel's neighboring countries.  

 

David believed that this was just the beginning and that this was a continuation of the rich history of Judaism. He once said "There are 11 million Jews in the world. I don't say that all of them will come here, but I expect several million, and with natural increase I can quite imagine a Jewish state of 10 million." David said this just after the first war between Israel and Iraq had been one, for his whole life he always believed that violence was never the right way To solve problems, but he came to except that if violence was the only option to protect the home of Jewish citizens, then that's what would have to be done. 

 

How the Israeli Government Works: 

 

Israel is a Democracy like Australia, the first important role is the President. The president is mainly a political head that is really only important for backing the Prime Minister up and for big roles in major ceremonies. 

 

The most important role in the Israeli Parliament is the Prime Minister which was David Ben Gurion's first role. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President in a special ceremony. The Prime Minister has the most power in the entire country and makes all the big decisions. 

 

The Knesset is a group of 120 people who are elected for a four year term, they are a legislation that have the power to overrule laws put forward, they are also allowed to suggest ideas to the Prime Minister.  

 

When David became Prime Minister, he gave the people of Israel three challenges that he wanted them and the country to achieve. The first challenge was to be able to absorb mass immigration from all over the world, the second was to create multi-cultural and challenged communities. The third was to build great education and learning systems.  

 

When David retied from office the first time in 1953 other leaders, Moshe Sharrett and Chaim Weizman failed to reach the level that David had in his first 5 years. Subsequently both of them only lasted a combined total of two years before David Ben Gurion came out of retirement to claim Prime Minister only two years later. One of the reasons he retired in the first place was that people started comparing him to Harry Truman and many other world class leader, by the time it got to 1953 he could handle the pressure any more.  

 

One year before David's time in office ended Israel entered a time of Government and community prosperity. David's work over just under 20 years had taken Israel from being a new country to becoming a country that everyone was talking about. Unexpectedly, in 1963 David resigned as Prime Minister claiming that he needed time to focus on himself. After he resigned political tensions ran high and one year later the Mapai started it's transformation to become the Israeli Labour Party. In 1970 David retired from the Knesset and all other political activity. After he retired he wrote many Hebrew books about his time in office.  

 

The reason I chose David Ben Gurion was because of many reasons. I chose him because of my connection to Judaism and Israel. I heard about him from my Grandma, she works as the President of The UIA of United Israel Appeal. The UIA helps people all over Israel, in most developed country's there is a UIA. Because of her connection to the state of Israel and my Jewish heritage I chose David Ben Gurion. This project has deepened my understanding of my Jewish Heritage and how Israel's Government works.