[[quoteright:347:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DavidBenGurion_5105.jpg]]

->''"In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles."''

David Ben-Gurion (born David Grün, 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary founder and the first Prime Minister of UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}.

He was born in UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} in 1886. In response to the anti-Semitism he fled to Palestine and became a DeterminedHomesteader. During the feuding with local Arabs he was a VigilanteMan in the Hashomer militia, an embryo version of the Hagganah which was in turn later to become UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles. He served in the British army in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and then came back to take part in local politics, in which he rose rapidly.

During the Mid-century he directed the policy of the pre-independence Yishuv (a labor union alliance that was evolving into a de facto state), and that of the new state of UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}. He led during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and during the [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict War of Independence]] and helped build a nation that survives to this day.

Ben Gurion was in some ways an InsufferableGenius but he was in the right place at the right time. His personality was more like TheSpock than TheMcCoy, and he led policy through his brilliant grasp of strategy, a gift which Israel badly needed in its formative years.

Nerds who don't keep up with Middle Eastern history or politics may recognize him as the visual inspiration for the [[Franchise/GreenLantern Guardians of the Universe]]...or [[Franchise/GhostInTheShell Section 9 Chief Aramaki Daisuke]].
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