Born in Kiev, she emigrated to the United States as a child with her family in 1906, and was educated there, becoming a teacher. After getting married, she and her husband emigrated to then Palestine in 1921, settling on a kibbutz. Meir was elected prime minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister.

The world's fourth and Israel's first and only woman to hold the office of Prime Minister, she has been described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics.

Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir "the best man in the government"; she was often portrayed as the "strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people."

Meir resigned as prime minister in 1974, the year following the Yom Kippur War.

Picture: Golda sitting with David Elazar ("Dado") IDF Chief of Staff during the 1973 Yom Kippur war