(Golda Meir (1898-1978). Jewish Virtual Library).

             David Ben-Gurion appointed Golda Meir to be a member of the Provisional Government in 1948. Ben­Gurion sent her a few days before the Declaration of Independence, as an Arab on a challenging assignment to plead with King Abdullah of Jordan not to attack Israel. But the King had by then decided his army would attack the Jewish state following the British removal. Meir was appointed Israel"s Ambassador to the Soviet Union in June 1948. After being elected to the Knesset as a Mapai member in 1949, she worked as Minister of Labor and National Insurance till 1956. She was appointed Foreign Minister in June 1956, a post that she held till January 1966. As Foreign Minister, Meir was the designer of Israel"s efforts to form viaduct to the rising independent countries of Africa through an assistance program based on practical Israeli experience in nation building. She also tried to strengthen relations with the United States and was victorious in making wide bilateral relations with Latin American countries. From 1966 to 1968, she worked as Secretary-General of Mapai, and then as the first Secretary-General of the freshly formed Labor Party. .

             In 1969, when Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly, the 71­year­old Meir took up the post of Premier, becoming the world"s third female Prime Minister. As Prime Minister she took over Eshkol"s second National Unity Government administration, but this shattered over the question of prolonging the cease-fire with Egypt in the absence of a peace treaty. She then continued in power with the Alignment, the National Religious Party and the Independent Liberals. The main incident of her administration was the Yom Kippur War on October 6, 1973, which broke out with huge synchronized Egyptian and Syrian attacks against Israel. As the postwar Agranant Inquiry Commission was set up, the IDF and the government had made a mistake gravely in their estimation of Arab intentions.