David Ben-Gurion developed as a labor Zionist organizer after moving to Ottoman Palestine in 1906. He worked in agriculture, political organization, and journalism before expulsion during the First World War took him to the United States. He returned after service in the Jewish Legion and helped establish the Histadrut labor federation in 1920. As its leader and later head of Mapai, he combined labor institutions with the campaign to build a Jewish national home.

From 1935 Ben-Gurion chaired the Jewish Agency Executive, becoming a principal leader of the Jewish community under the British Mandate. During the Second World War he supported the Allied struggle while opposing British restrictions on Jewish immigration. After the war, displaced survivors of the Holocaust and intensifying conflict made statehood an urgent objective. He supported the United Nations partition proposal and proclaimed Israel's independence on May 14, 1948.

As prime minister and defense minister, Ben-Gurion directed the new state's war effort and the consolidation of its armed forces. The 1948 war also involved the flight and expulsion of large numbers of Palestinians, whose return his government largely refused. State building therefore coincided with the Palestinian catastrophe remembered as the Nakba. His government absorbed substantial Jewish immigration, established national institutions, and negotiated reparations from West Germany, a deeply controversial policy within Israel. Arab citizens lived under military government during his premiership, reflecting unequal exercise of citizenship.

After a period at Sde Boker, Ben-Gurion returned to the premiership in 1955. The 1956 Suez campaign, undertaken with Britain and France, ended with withdrawal under international pressure. He emphasized defense capabilities and development of the Negev, while internal disputes, including the Lavon affair, weakened his party leadership. He resigned in 1963, later founded Rafi, and eventually withdrew from national office. He died in 1973. His career was central to the creation and organization of Israel, but its assessment must include policies toward Palestinians, military conflict, and limits on equal rights alongside institutional achievement and refugee absorption. His authority grew from party and labor organization as well as government office, shaping both the state's early capacity and the political divisions that persisted beyond his leadership.