David Ben-Gurion

Israel at 78: Unbowed, strong, and determined as it swings between a miracle and a mess - comment

It has been a year of sirens and safe rooms, of long stints of reserve duty, of families stretched to the breaking point. A year of loss, strain, and uncertainty.

Prayer in a Safed bomb shelter.
Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion

Newly published documents belonging to Israel's first prime minister reveal eerily relevant message

An illustrative image of Louaize in southern Lebanon.

Time to implement Ben-Gurion’s vision: Litani River is Israel's natural northern border - opinion

Werner Braun's 1964 picture of five nuns in the Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem is a symphony in monochrome.

Capturing a nation: Werner Braun’s photographic journey


Our teenagers take Israel for granted - opinion

Over the past 2,000 years, Jews have suffered through exile and desolation. From the Romans to the Holocaust, they faced enemies and antisemites who tried to annihilate them.

 ISRAEL’S FIRST prime minister  David Ben-Gurion sits under a portrait of Theodor Herzl before the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, May 14, 1948.

National service for all is a moral imperative - opinion

Upon reaching 18, all should be required to serve the country, in military or civilian service, as their civic duty.

A MEMBER of the Military Police checks the identity card of an enlisting soldier, at IDF recruitment headquarters in Tel Hashomer.

Aliyah isn't a sacrifice, but it still takes some getting used to - opinion

Aliyah may have been a sacrifice 30 years ago, but today it is no more difficult than moving to any other country.

 NEW IMMIGRANTS from North America arrive at Ben Gurion Airport on a special flight on behalf of the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization, in 2019

The debt to the Jewish rebels against Rome - opinion

Brushing aside negative portrayals of the ancient rebels, the Zionists made an ideological connection to them because they had bequeathed an important legacy.

DAVID BEN-GURION showing guests around Sde Boker.

What do Pharaoh, Moses teach Israel about its leadership crisis?

MIDDLE ISRAEL: There was a time when leaders thought of things larger than themselves.

DAVID BEN-GURION showing guests around Sde Boker.

Air conditioning system in PM Ben-Gurion's Sde Boker home restored

Teams of retired technicians came back for a special project: restoring a long-retired air conditioning unit in the former home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion.

 Tadiran air conditioner technicians Yehuda Amergi and Moshe Schwartz

Israel is neither halachic or Western, it is a unique democracy - opinion

In law, morality is necessary for mishpat tzedek (justice) to be done and if justice is done and seen, peace will result.

 IN 1980, justice Aharon Barak decided that Jewish law would be merely a source of inspiration to judges. In 2019, he disavowed his 1980 decision.

Zionists didn’t wait for the Messiah - opinion

To those who believed in waiting for the Messiah, they said we can return to Israel without a Messiah.

 GOD’S PROVIDENCE is perceived in Israel’s success. Former prime minister David Ben-Gurion said, ‘In Israel, in order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles… Life is more than blind forces.’

How should Avraham Stern be remembered? - opinion

The once Zionist renegade is now part of the Israeli mainstream - but was he more terrorist or freedom fighter?

 OVER THE decades since his death, Avraham “Yair” Stern has increasingly edged into the Israeli consensus, says the writer.

On this day: First ever election to the Knesset held in 1949

David Ben-Gurion won the elections and became Israel's first prime minister and Chaim Weizmann became Israel's first president.

 The Knesset building, home of Israel's legislature, in Jerusalem, on November 14, 2022 (Illustrative).