Let’s talk about an Israeli Prime Minister who is “an accomplished player in the rough-and-tumble world” of Jewish politics. An extremely talented communicator who can excite supporters and who plays on the American public scene like a virtuoso. At the same time, that leader generates strong feelings – positive and negative – among certain groups, particularly at home. This is a head of government whose political survival is threatened by an existential war launched against the country while its defenders are caught off guard.

Reading these lines, the image of Benjamin Netanyahu will certainly come to your mind. That is, if you are interested in current Israeli political history.

Considering the similarities quoted above, one could argue that the current Prime Minister walks in the footsteps of Golda Meir, in whose care the country was entrusted between 1969 and 1974.

I am fully aware that drawing parallels is a road on which one must tread carefully – after all these two leaders belong in two opposite ideological and partisan camps – but I could not avoid mentioning these striking parallels.

The life and career of the fourth Prime Minister of Israel – and only woman to occupy that function – have piqued my curiosity for quite a long time now. Thanks to the expertise and talent of Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt, who currently serves as the U.S State Department’s Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism, an excellent opportunity has been granted me through Yale University Press’ excellent Jewish Lives Collection.

What struck me in Golda Meir’s life was the fact that Jews have always lived with a sword of Damocles above their heads. As a young Jewish girl living in Kiev, she was traumatized by the sight of her father nailing wood planks to protect the family home against Cossack hooligans targeting Jews in a pogrom. That event was imprinted in her soul for the rest of her life. “Her Zionism represented an antidote to a hostile, Jew-hating world”, writes Professor Lipstadt.

How much has changed since then?

After living for a few years in Milwaukee, the young woman emigrated to what was then the British Mandate in Palestine with her husband. Becoming a savvy operator and a master fundraiser – mainly putting her skills at work in the United States where she attained stardom – for Jewish institutions that were built to support the ascent of an independent State, she was confronted with the declared antisemitism of British authorities. “Mrs. Meyerson [Golda Meir’s surname before she Hebraized it], you must agree that if the Nazis persecuted the Jews, they must have had some reason for it”, she was told by the Mandate’s chief secretary in one of which we can assume were many similar unpleasant encounters in her functions.

Tormented by the guilt of not having been able to save more Jewish lives when the Holocaust consumed millions of souls, she worked relentlessly to give the best opportunities to those who embarked on the journey towards the land of milk and honey before and after its independence on May 14^th, 1948. Her stubbornness sometimes collided with David Ben Gurion’s pragmatism on the journey leading to that historic day.

If there is one aspect on which she never gave in, it was the imperative of protecting Israel. We are “[…] going to fight to the very end. If we have arms to fight with, we will fight with them. If not, we will fight with stones in our hands…”, was her credo, expressed in the style of “conviction, without compromise, and expressed with all the subtlety of a Centurion tank” to borrow the Time magazine quote used by the author.

Even though she was exonerated of responsibility about Israeli unpreparedness for the Kippur War that found the borders of the country virtually unguarded on October 7, 1973, the political wounds associated to this event that could have marked the end of Israel – her ultimate nightmare –announce the end of her political career. During that period, the cancer diagnosed a few years prior spreads. She leaves office and dies four years later.

Between the covers of this enthralling biography, Deborah E. Lipstadt sheds light on one of the most controversial political figures in Israel’s history – another area where the current Prime Minister can join her – also exposing how she had, as a woman, to endure the double-standard of being treated in a way that men serving office seldom must suffer.

Since the relationship between Israel and the United States is always a timely topic, particularly in times like those we currently live, I particularly enjoyed reading about the interaction between Golda Meir, as foreign minister, and President John F. Kennedy. Despite the “special relationship”, she would nevertheless realize that the Israel Prime Minister is not entirely a “free agent” when dealing with Washington.

Before I conclude, I cannot resist drawing another parallel like those evoked at the beginning. Yitzhak Rabin, the former chief of staff of the IDF, succeeded Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel in 1974. As I write these lines, another former chief of staff of the IDF, Benny Gantz, is positioned to replace Benjamin Netanyahu whenever the occasion presents itself.

All in all, Deborah E. Lipstadt’s work is political biography at its best. As we prepare to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel, I can only recommend it to anyone interested in understanding the huge responsibilities placed on the shoulders of any of its Prime Ministers.

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Deborah E. Lipstadt, Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2023, 288 pages.