DAVID BEN-GURION
Many Arabs remained in Israel and played an important part in building the modern state. While the promise of full citizenship with representation and participation was kept, there developed a differential amount of support for social services that were administered by religious authorities whereby Arabs had less government money spent on them per capita than the Jews did. In that case they have become second class citizens, not envisioned by the Israeli founders. Nonetheless, the Arabs who are Israeli citizens, have the most freedom of Muslims in any Arab country by far. Their health care is much better, average income from work is greater and unemployment is lower, and education is much better. However, there are forces in Israel working to force the total equality with Jewish citizens that was promised in this quote and others who in reaction to the support for the Arab terrorists by some Israeli Arabs, advocate more discrimination against Arabs and even expulsion.
Muslim extremist terrorism was rampant, even before Israel was established. A few of the early Zionists took the Biblical view and responded in kind using the same terrorist tactics of the Arabs. Ben Gurion argued against that. The debate has continued in Israel ever since. With relatively few exceptions the Israelis have not engaged in terrorism although the Arabs and their supporters have defined terrorism against them as Israel using modern weapons of war within the international rules of war. Also, the Arab terrorists argue that this is the only weapon that they have available that can equalize the conflict and further if it is in “defense of Islam” terrorism or any other act is allowed by the Koran. Ben Gurion also was prescient in that the assassins of some key Israelis leaders over the years were Jews who advocated terrorism against the Arabs just as most of the victims of Islamic Terrorists have been Muslims.
David Ben-Gurion, born David Grün, was the primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946. As head of the Jewish Agency from 1935, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he was the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led its struggle for an independent Jewish state in Mandatory Palestine. On 14 May 1948, he formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to write. Ben-Gurion led Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Subsequently, he became known as "Israel's founding father".; David Ben-Gurion was the primary founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel.
