“It is not only a matter, I believe, of religious observance and practice. To me, being Jewish means and has always meant being proud to be part of a people that has maintained its distinct identity for more than 2,000 years, with all the pain and torment that has been inflicted upon it.” ~ Golda Meir

ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: What did Golda Meir answer when King Abdullah of Transjordan asked her to postpone the declaration of independence of the State of Israel?

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, the 5th of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar, by David Ben-Gurion, who soon became the first Prime Minister of Israel. It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day. Independence Day, Yom Ha’atzmaut, is celebrated annually in Israel on the 5th of Iyar, which this year falls on May 9.

Golda Meir was one of only two women to sign the Declaration of Independence. She later went on to hold several positions in the Israeli government, eventually becoming its Prime Minister.

Ignacio Uría is a Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Alcalá in Spain. He is also a member of the Research Group in Recent History of the University of Navarra and a Senior Research Associate at the Cuban Studies Institute of Miami, Florida. Uría won the III Ateneo Jovellanos International  Prize for History.

He has researched the life of Golda Meir in depth, and this week he is sharing with us some little-known facts about Israel’s “Iron Lady”.