Prime Ministers: The Clash of Ben-Gurion and Begin | History of Israel Explained | Unpacked

This week on History of Israel Explained - Meet the founding fathers of Israel.
We discuss two names that dominate the conversation of old-school Israeli politics, Israeli prime ministers and political enemies, David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin.
We explore their two opposing views and how they shaped Israel. So, how did a successful, albeit flawed, modern state emerge from this intense division?
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:46 Ben-Gurion vs. Begin
01:02 Jabotinsky vs. Ben Gurion
01:17 Ben-Gurion's political positions
01:44 Jabotinsky's political positions
02:34 Attempts (and failure) to reconcile
03:32 Begin's assumption of Revisionist and Irgun leadership
03:55 Cooperation vs. opposition to the British
04:56 Irgun bombing of British headquarters
05:40 Signing the Declaration of Independence
05:55 The Altalena Affair
07:03 Prevention of civil war and establishing one army
07:51 Improvement of relations
09:00 Begin's clashing with Labor party
10:01 Disagreement and mutual respect
10:25 Outro
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GPO Israel/Brauner Teddy/Moshe Pridan/Hans Pinns/Fritz Cohen/Zoltan Kluger/
Courtesy of the Jabotinsky Institute.
NavSource
Executive Producers:
- Shevi Peters
- Adam Milstein
Platinum Level:
- Rachel & Jack ז”ל Gindi Family Foundation
This series would not be possible without the generous support of:
- The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation
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About History of Israel Explained: This series casts a new perspective on the history of the modern State of Israel, both pre and post 1948. We explore the inspiring highs and heartbreaking lows, and the everyday struggles of ordinary people. Understand how the Jewish State came to be by meeting prominent Zionist figures and learning about key historical events. Explore aspects of Israeli society, from its famous military to the meaning of the national anthem, and more.
About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated - yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.
#Israel #History #Zionism

[@jonathanpraff9781]

Menachem Begin was a tzaddik. His courage, strength and commitment to unity continue to inspire me. The man was fearless!

[@N0x0ss]

He was a terrorist.

[@bennywolfe4357]

Begin was just too good of a guy

[@NDB-Semper]

Given his history as Jabotinsky's fire brand protégé with his espoused Iron Wall doctrine, he made quite the beneficent ouvertures with Sadat. He embodied some of the best aspects of Judaism

[@DCFunBud]

Golda Meir said Begin always behaved as a gentleman towards her

[@Rosefire]

Yehuda Avner confirmed this in his book, "The Prime Ministers". Even when Begin disagreed with Meir on political matters, he declared he had the uttermost respect for her and declared she was a courageous woman.

[@johnr7279]

Really liked the contrasts you showed between Ben-Gurion and Begin. Opposite approaches in many respects. One similarity though was the great lengths that each would make to protect Israel. With Ben-Gurion I think this was seen the most in military retribution operations in Israel's early days. Putting a higher price on the spilling of blood than maybe an enemy would want to end up paying. With Begin, it was things like the destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor and the brash (and awesome) statements he made immediately after. Both of these guys were no-nonsense leaders who did not suffer fools lightly. Personally, I look up to them both.

[@mottyk8491]

In the hindsight Begin was right, and the few people left that still stick to the DBG, Meir & Rabin philosophy thank God their voices fall on def ears

[@asmitachatterjee8979]

Quite well presented! The conflict between Ben-Gurion and Begin reminds me of the relationship between two leading Indian freedom fighters - M. K. Gandhi and Subhashchandra Bose. Similarities that came up include that Bose had built a voluntary militia/army (Indian National Army) like the Irguns, the methods they both preferred to oust the British colonial power, Gandhi chiding Bose for his more violent means, Britishers prosecuting Bose's army and followers etc. (Edited to correct typos)

[@piyushdas079]

exactly wat i was thinking

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

And in both countries the right did the dirty work of getting independence, and the left appropriated the fame to itself. I hate the left from the bottom of my heart.

[@insaanietihad-MSB]

Only difference is both Begin and Ben Gurion didn't appreciated or sided with the Nazis....but Subhashchandra Boss not only alinged and appreciated Nazis and Hitler like Gandhi wrote appreciative letters to Hitler and Nazis leaders, Subhashchandra Boss Gabe good luck charm of Swastika and Aryan race concept to the Nazis. Subhashchandra Boss was not just anti British but also an anti semite openly against Jewish British traders in Orissa and Bengal. So was Gandhi Gi being a Gujrati businessman, both leaders also gave support to the Ottomans in first world war at the battle of Haifa where they refused to support British battling the Muslim Ottomans, just to get Indian Muslims support for not breaking up the subcontinent into two...

[@Abhishekaditya91]

I wonder if any of the modern Indian leaders have that girth and gravity of character that cherish the our civilizational continuity called India. Nice observation by the way.

[@stevenyemba811]

Great lesson for today's world. There should always be room for respect!! Great video

[@jacobfeller2967]

My dear young narrator. As much as I admire your historical knowledge, you left out 1967 on the eve of the 6 day war, when Beigin did Indeed join up with the coalition and stayed on to the end of 1969, when labor agreed to a ceasefire with Nasser to end the war of attrition initiated by Nasser and Israel was attritiining Egypt when the guns fell silent which greatly displeased Beigin. Beigin had warned that now Egypt would move their missiles right up to the Suez canal. He turned out as usual to be right on the money, resulting in the Yom Kippur debacle of a war three and a half years later. You were a twinkle in your father's eye then while I was already a grown 20 year old.

[@insaanietihad-MSB]

Hmm interesting thank you for sharing this

[@meryldanziger4870]

Fascinating, informative, nicely-modulated and humane presentation. Kudos!

[@arielbob100]

3:45 religiously inclined is very inaccurate! all three movements were secular

[@zackmin2min876]

After Begin blow-up the David hotel guess where he went to hide (Rabbi Kook Attic). Begin Respected the Torah much more then Ben-Gurion

[@zamonium24]

All Irgun activities except one did not take place on Shabbos.

[@user-kt1st4uu9x]

@@zackmin2min876 ben gurion really respected the tanakh (to create the "new hebrew"), but he didnt much liked the mishna, talmyd extra...

[@normlieberman372]

Thanks so much!! This is a brilliant summary of a seminal time in the history of Israel's formation.

[@jonathanlewin9775]

Outstanding job. Very clear. You are very talented!. You should be living in Israel if not already doing so. Hatzlacha!

[@aharondovidtuttle1661]

While neither men were "tzaddikim", I definitely resonate much more with the Jabotinsky/Begin approach and imho Begin was much more of a mensch. Ben Gurion on the other hand, I'm not sure if I'll be able to mention his name without spitting.

[@petargrigorov408]

2:49 why it sounds familiar?

[@sharabiofficial]

Great video! Thank you for the history lesson

[@18roselover]

Dont know if you mentioned it, but most of israels early leaders were secular kommie loving socialists, that established kibbutzim moshavim all the israel formal organizations labour unions, health care, army , etc. The rivalry between the leftys an right wingers is still evident today

[@yettapunarayanareddy7284]

Good message

[@omarmitchell643]

Splendid! Noura please return to Jordan, where you belong.

[@brian5128]

Damnn💀💀💀

[@moshedayan9049]

I love this channel Thank You

[@melissaroscher1080]

Sounds similar to the row Jefferson and Adams had in US, our founding fathers.

[@ammitpchawda3904]

The videos you make are highly informative, crisp and interesting. ❤️ and best wishes to you and 🇮🇱 from 🇮🇳. Please keep making more such videos.

[@mdo89]

Well presented

[@UNPACKED]

Thank you!

[@phosphoros60]

Ben Gurion merging Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler before it was cool.

[@bensonfang1868]

Jabotinsky’s Russian name was Vladimir tbf

[@fredericadda]

History gave ultimately reason to both Jabotinsky and Begin.

[@user-px7kx2gp1b]

So, the "pragmatic" Ben Gurion was wrong most of the time and the "idealistic" Begin was right most of the time... Better be idealistic, then.

[@insaanietihad-MSB]

Absolutely

[@GaviLazan]

They should've taken the time to iron out their differences enough to avoid unnecessary loss of life, but also potential other problems that were caused by this division.

[@OrsoRaggiante]

Misses a lot of the nuances, but to be fair, it's a pretty good effort for a 11-minute video.

[@yakirmorris6601]

6:13 not exactly, in the time of the altalena only the militias in greater Israel were disolved but the militias in Jerusalem still existed as Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of the land.

[@TheZerech]

Worth noting that both sides of the Jordan were initially promised to the Jewish "National Home."

[@maksimsharoika6055]

Great Video!

[@UNPACKED]

Thanks!

[@maksimsharoika6055]

@Vice TOLUCT Excuse me?

[@millevenon5853]

Humans and their tragedies 🙄

[@brooklyn2349]

Another great last line! Mutual respect in disagreement, or respect , at all, in fact, seems to have gotten lost in recent years. This series is great. I had a Zionist ,Modern Orthodox yeshiva education from elementary school through high school and there is so much I'm learning that I never knew before. We were taught general stories and general idealism. The intricacies and personal details are not taught.

[@shlmel]

🤣 At least now when Israeli Leaders disagree & curse each other out while screaming at the top of their lungs, they just get thrown out of Knesset, calm down, reset, then come back to Knesset just like they did while PM Netanyahu was giving his inauguration speech.

[@shibeshi2637]

The issue is really good. But the narration is unnecessarily too fast and hard to catchup. Narration is an art itself. Bad narration destroys good narrative. Please improve that for the future.

[@CaptainHarlock-kv4zt]

As an outsider I think Israel gave back Sinai for nothing.

[@CaptainHarlock-kv4zt]

There are some strange symbols like these . . . .

[@itamar4117]

not really. after the sinai war israel gave sinai due american preassure - in the war, egypt got soviet support and israel needed a superpowers sponsership so it had to obey. after the six day war israel gave sinai for peace with egypt - the peace is important today as the egyptians are an important negotionator between israel and hamas and also help israel with the blockade on the gaza strip.

[@insaanietihad-MSB]

Totally agree with you on this

[@deaconsonnygriffin7732]

nothing built on lies and inequity can ever be considered "successful"... which is why there has never been True peace there...

[@rorojara001]

I remember me and a friend clashing over LGTB issues like Begin anr Gurion about Zionism.

[@SexierMink1699]

cringe

[@Mel1000x]

love your content but slow down - you are talking way too fast

[@patriciasalassbirthdaysala4963]

Why do u speak so fast? Those of us who are not american can hardly follow!!! By the way, regards from Spain España.

[@UNPACKED]

We have Spanish subtitles on many of our videos if that helps! We're trying to keep the video, which is already very long, feeling upbeat and not as long as it really is. Maybe setting the speed to 0.75x can help too.

[@hjaltepedersen6046]

Interesting. I wanted it faster, so I turned it up to 1.5x - I'm from Denmark btw

[@explore.365]

We can all learn from history 📜 yeah! Israel 🇮🇱 lives!🌷🎶

[@wejcynp8943]

Begin was an honorable jew.

[@pierrelesarbre7620]

Nice video! Thank you! But, please, check the correctness of writing. You mentioned the name Vladimir twice and each time it contained a different error: Vadimir and Vladamir. Such little errors undermine the general impression.

[@eduardotrachtenberg9921]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@pedromac1620]

No mentions of american dead.

[@elmohan6327]

Beguin Bielorrusian not jewish, jabotinsky russian,

[@biranfalk-dotan2448]

You were so enthusiastic about Begin that you forgot that he was actually never on the Altalena and also that there is disagreement over who shot first and what orders were given

[@zackmin2min876]

At the begging he wasn't but in the middle of the fight he took a small boat and went on the ship.

[@dantyrrell3300]

I saw a piece on the King David hotel and the British Commander said that they never received any warning of a bomb in the building and he said that a half an hour would not have been enough time anyway to get the people out.

[@winnluke1976]

Force them into peace 😂

[@Free_Palestine2000]

Pre state Israel , is Palestine 🇵🇸

[@user-uz7dm6qn3y]

Just like pre-state Zimbabwe was Rhodesia.

[@fiddlerontheroof4099]

Ugggghh, I am so sickened by hasbara (Israel propaganda)...the King David Hotel bombing was a *terrorist* *attack* , and the fact Irgun issued warnings beforehand does not justify the ninety-one innocent lives ended by its behavior. The attack, the *terrorist* *attack* , had nothing to do with a ban on Jewish migration during World War II because, plainly, there wasn't one; while the British government limited Jewish migration to 75,000 for five years between 1939 and 1944, only 51,000 of those allotted immigration certificates were actually used. As a result, the British government even continued to permit Jewish migration to Palestine from 1944 onward. This in no way excuses the British Mandate system; after all, contrary to the narrator's assertion, the King David *terrorist* *attack* did not in any way contribute to the Mandate's end; in fact, the British responded to it by making life worse for Jews, both within Mandatory Palestine and Britain itself (which was Begin's goal right from the beginning). Menachem Begin wasn't evil; after all, in addition to his achievements with respect to the Camp David Accords, he indeed demonstrated great restraint during the Altalena Affair when civil war would've otherwise been imminent. Nevertheless, it's crucial to understand that Begin more than any other figure sent Israel spiraling into the fanatical direction that led to Benjamin Netanyahu's present, long-standing grip on the nation's government, and a resulting erosion of its security equal in total proportion to that of its reputation abroad, including now in the United States. His jingoistic, impetuous legacy must not be defended, but for the good of Israel, for the sake of peace, must be examined honestly and understood so as to ensure the nation can recover from it and work for a better tomorrow.

[@MrBITS101]

the murder of lord moyne was also a terrorist attack

[@user-uz7dm6qn3y]

Call it what you want, it got the occupiers out.

[@elmohan6327]

They zionist not are hebrews,

[@JonasNacho-il3nq]

This is such a propaginistic video, not criticizing revisionism at all, which could have cost us statehood, acting like they were heros while they clearly were terrorists/ fascist working against the zionist idea, even leaving the ZO. On the other hand, the videos subtly critizes Ben Gurion and the socilist zionist idea, wich alone we responsible for independence.

[@user-yh7zh5pv7o]

Ben Gurion has 19 Jewish life’s on his hands, he is burning in hell now

[@neilgin1]

oy gevalt!!!!.....

[@Zachnsm1234]

זה בטוח שהזבל בן גור נשרף בגיהנום

[@sparkleful16]

Ew why did this pop up on my recommended. Not trying to learn about something nonexistent. Give back Palestine their land and the people their freedom.

[@ismail_2967]

Slavic well if it’s a Muslim country why do they have to give up their lands by force?

[@sparkleful16]

stephan daoust So disappointing.

[@GaviLazan]

I'm still confused how you have a problem with Israel if it doesn't exist... Are you imagining things?

[@sparkleful16]

Gavers23 It doesn’t exist when it comes to being humane.

[@jeandidierly4536]

Lies and lies this is the problem with u people Israël is a free country with free citizens arabs and jews with same rights you guys just hate jews period..

[@johnricciojr.5324]

Jesus Christ the best Israeli 👌

[@Thenextperson]

Amen!!!