Historical Background and Interviews
III. A New Beginning A New Beginning
Israeli State and to protect it with all our heart and soul as long as it is necessary. We are still facing a heavy double battle — a political battle and military battle.” 1 The first country to recognize Israel was the United States, fol - lowed in the next few days by the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Guatemala. The council elected Ben-Gurion, a Polish immigrant, the first prime minister of Israel. Born in Plonsk, Poland, in 1886, Ben-Gu- rion had been educated in a Hebrew school established by his Zi- onist father and had immigrated to Israel in 1906. There he helped create the first agricultural workers’ commune and several trade unions in Israel, founded the Histadrut, and later served as its rep- resentative to the Zionist Organization (after 1960, World Zion- ist Organization) and the Jewish Agency. In 1935, he was elected chairman of both organizations. One of Ben Gurion’s first tasks was to unite the pre-State fight - ing forces into an official national army. Most of the officers of the Palmach were affiliated with kibbutzim and the Achdut HaAvodah political party, whereas Ben-Gurion’s party was the Mapai. Both parties were part of the labor movement, but Ben-Gurion did not want the army to be under the influence of Achdut HaAvodah. Little by little, he started phasing out Achdut HaAvodah officers. There was considerable debate about whether or not he was jeopardiz - ing the nation by removing the best officers. After much criticism, he let some Palmach officers stay, and they remained generals for many years. The United States was the first country to recognize Israel and the Soviet Union was the second. The Russians felt Israel was helping break the British Empire apart and wanted to support it. Some peo- ple also felt that Russia was sympathetic to Israel because of Israel’s strong labor movement, by means of which they thought they could gain a foothold in Israel. Regardless of their reasons, both the United States and the USSR recognized Israel quickly. At the same time that the United States recognized Israel, it placed an embargo on all weapon sales to it, hindering the country’s
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