Her Alignment coalition was denied a majority in the subsequent legislative election; she resigned the following year and was succeeded as prime minister by Yitzhak Rabin.

A controversial figure in Israel, Meir has been lionized as a founder of the state and described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics, but also widely blamed for the country being caught by surprise during the war of 1973.

A leader early on, she and a close friend, Regina Hamburger, organized the American Young Sisters Society, a fundraiser to pay for her classmates' textbooks in 1908.

[12] The Korngolds held intellectual evenings at their home, where Meir was exposed to debates on Zionism, literature, women's suffrage, trade unionism, and more.

[19] She had intended to make aliyah (immigration to Israel) straight away, but her plans were disrupted when all transatlantic passenger services were canceled due to the entry of the United States into the First World War.

"[16] Throughout World War II, Meir served several key roles in the Jewish Agency, which functioned as the arm of the Zionist Organization in British Palestine.

[27] In June 1946, Meir became acting head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency after the British arrested Moshe Sharett and other leaders of the Yishuv as part of Operation Agatha.

Meir went on to call the mass expulsion and flight of Arabs before the 1948 Palestine war "dreadful", and likened it to what befell the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Meir also suddenly lost her job and administrative responsibilities, as the Political Department became the provisional Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and her leadership role in Jerusalem was taken over by Dov Yosef.

[28] Meir assisted in building over a hundred ma'abarot (Hebrew: מַעְבָּרוֹת), temporary immigrant camps with crude tin-roofed huts and tents for housing.

She drew criticism from many new immigrants and contemporary politicians due to this, but responded by pointing to her limited budget and the time needed to construct proper housing.

[28] She carried out welfare state policies, orchestrated the integration of immigrants into Israel's workforce,[40] and introduced major housing and road construction projects.

As foreign minister, Meir promoted ties with the newly established states in Africa in an effort to gain allies in the international community.

In her autobiography, she wrote:Like them, we had shaken off foreign rule; like them, we had to learn for ourselves how to reclaim the land, how to increase the yields of our crops, how to irrigate, how to raise poultry, how to live together, and how to defend ourselves.

In a letter sent to Israel's ambassador in Warsaw, Katriel Katz, she wrote: A proposal was raised in the coordination committee to inform the Polish government that we want to institute selection in aliyah, because we cannot continue accepting sick and handicapped people.

[28] In January 1966, she retired from her role as Foreign Minister, citing exhaustion and ill health, although she continued to serve in the Knesset and as secretary-general of Mapai.

In 1969 and the early 1970s, Meir met with many world leaders to promote her peace settlement idea, including Richard Nixon (1969), Nicolae Ceaușescu (1972) and Pope Paul VI (1973).

[59][60][61][62][63] In June 1969, on the second anniversary of the Six-Day War, Meir stated in an interview that "there was no such thing as Palestinians", a comment later described by Al Jazeera as "one of her defining – and most damning – legacies.

[66] The interview entitled Who can blame Israel was published in The Sunday Times on June 15, 1969, and included the following exchange: In the wake of the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, Meir appealed to the world to "save our citizens and condemn the unspeakable criminal acts committed".

[68] Outraged at the perceived lack of global action, she ordered the Mossad to hunt down and assassinate suspected leaders and operatives of Black September and the PFLP.

A few days later in Vienna, Meir tried to convince Kreisky to reopen the facility by appealing to his own Jewish origin, and described his position as "succumbing to terrorist blackmail".

For months preceding the attack, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made repeated overtures for peace in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai, but these gestures were rebuffed by Meir, who had offered previously to discuss ceding "most of the Sinai", but was not willing to restore the pre-1967 borders, and Egypt had no interest in peace talks under Meir's conditions.

[73] Consequently, although the Knesset passed a resolution granting her power to demand a full-scale call-up of the military (instead of the typical cabinet decision), Meir did not mobilize Israel's forces early.

It said about her actions on Yom Kippur morning: She decided wisely, with common sense and speedily, in favour of the full mobilization of the reserves, as recommended by the chief-of-staff, despite weighty political considerations, thereby performing a most important service for the defence of the state.

[75][78] On 21 November 1977, Meir spoke at the Knesset on behalf of the Labor Party to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during his historic trip as the first Arab leader to visit Israel.

Historians find her main legacy includes effective leadership of the Labor Movement, and building good relationships with Third World nations.

Medzini states, "Apart from laying the foundations for Israel’s presence in Africa, she was never taken with the routine and often dull diplomatic work in the Foreign Ministry and abhorred its outer manifestations of ceremonies and rites.

[7] A controversial figure in Israel, she has been lionized as a founder of the state and described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics, but also widely blamed for the country being caught by surprise during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The Australian actress Judy Davis played a young Meir in the television film A Woman Called Golda (1982), opposite Leonard Nimoy.

[98] Actress Helen Mirren portrayed Meir in the 2023 Golda biopic film directed by Guy Nattiv and produced by Michael Kuhn.