David Ben-Gurion, originally named David Yosef Gruen, was a Polish-born Israeli statesman and a primary national founder of the State of Israel, serving as its first Prime Minister from 1948 to 1953 and again from 1955 to 1963. Born on October 16, 1886, in Płońsk, Russian Poland, to Avigdor and Sheindel Green, he was raised in a family deeply involved in Zionist activities. After ending formal schooling due to financial constraints, he co-founded the Zionist youth club Ezra at age 14, promoting Hebrew studies, aiding pogrom victims, and encouraging emigration to the Holy Land. Embracing socialist Zionist ideals, he immigrated to Palestine in 1906, worked in Jewish settlements, and quickly rose to leadership in the socialist Zionist Poalei Tzion party. Adopting the Hebrew name Ben-Gurion, he helped establish trade unions and advocated for Jewish self-defense.

During World War I, he was exiled by Ottoman authorities to the United States but returned in 1918, joining the Jewish Legion of the British Army. He co-founded the Histadrut labor federation and the Mapai party, serving as head of the Jewish Agency from 1935 and acting president of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) between 1946 and 1956, integrating its institutions into the new state. Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence on May 14, 1948, assuming the roles of Prime Minister and Defense Minister. He led Israel through the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the formative years of state-building, managing conflicts with neighboring states, promoting Jewish immigration, fostering secularism, and encouraging economic development.

Retiring in 1963, he lived in the Negev kibbutz of Sde Boker until his death on December 1, 1973. His vision of a Jewish state in the historic homeland remains central to Israeli identity, and he is remembered as a prominent Zionist leader.