Editing David Ben-Gurion (section)

=== Ben-Gurion in America, 1915–1918 ===
[[File:1918 Private BenGurion volunteer in Jewish Legion.jpg|thumb|Ben-Gurion in his [[Jewish Legion]] uniform, 1918]]

Ben-Gurion was at sea, returning from Istanbul, when the [[First World War]] broke out. He was not amongst the thousands of foreign nationals deported in December 1914.<ref>Teveth (1987). mass deportations p. 117</ref> Based in [[Jerusalem]], he and Ben-Zvi recruited forty Jews into a Jewish militia to assist the Ottoman Army. Despite his pro-Ottoman declarations he was deported to Egypt in March 1915.<ref>Segev (2019). pp. 116, 117</ref> From there he made his way to the United States, arriving in May. For the next four months Ben-Gurion and Ben Zvi embarked on a speaking tour planned to visit [[Poale Zion]] groups in 35 cities in an attempt to raise a pioneer army, [[Hechalutz]], of 10,000 men to fight on the Ottoman side.<ref>Teveth (1985). pp. 25, 26.</ref> The tour was a disappointment. Audiences were small; Poale Zion had fewer than 3,000 members, mostly in the New York area. Ben-Gurion was hospitalised with [[diphtheria]] for two weeks and spoke on only five occasions and was poorly received. Ben-Zvi spoke to 14 groups as well as an event in New York City and succeeded in recruiting 44 volunteers for Hechalutz; Ben-Gurion recruited 19.<ref>Teveth (1987). pp. membership 100, tour & illness 103, recruits 104</ref> Ben-Gurion embarked on a second tour in December, speaking at 19 meetings, mostly in small towns with larger events in [[Minneapolis]] and [[History of the Jews in Galveston, Texas|Galveston]].<ref>Teveth (1987). p. 107</ref> Due to the lack of awareness of Poale Zion's activities in Palestine it was decided to republish ''Yizkor'' in [[Yiddish]]. The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] original was published in [[Jaffa]] in 1911; it consisted of eulogies to [[Zionist]] martyrs and included an account by Ben-Gurion of his Petah Tikva and Sejera experiences. The first edition appeared in February 1916 and was an immediate success; all 3,500 copies were sold. A second edition of 16,000 was published in August. [[Martin Buber]] wrote the introduction to the 1918 German edition. The follow-up was conceived as an anthology of work from Poale Zion leaders; in fact Ben-Gurion took over as editor, writing the introduction and two-thirds of the text. He suspended all his Poale Zion activities and spent most of the next 18 months in [[New York Public Library]]. Ben-Zvi, originally designated as co-editor, contributed a section on Jewish history in which he expounded the theory that the [[fellahin]] currently living in the area were descendants of pre-[[Bar Kokhba Revolt|Roman conquest]] Jews. ''Eretz Israel – Past and Present'' was published in April 1918. It cost $2 and was 500 pages long, over twice the length of ''Yizkor''. It was an immediate success, selling 7,000 copies in 4 months; second and third editions were printed. Total sales of 25,000 copies made a profit of $20,000 for Poale Zion. It made Ben-Gurion the most prominent Poale Zion leader in America.<ref>Teveth (1987). pp. 108, 115–117</ref><ref>Segev (2019) pp. 132–134</ref>

In May 1918 Ben-Gurion joined the newly formed [[Jewish Legion]] of the [[British Army]] and trained at [[Fort Edward (Nova Scotia)|Fort Edward]] in [[Windsor, Nova Scotia]]. He volunteered for the 38th Battalion, [[Royal Fusiliers]], one of the four which constituted the Jewish Legion. His unit fought against the Ottomans as part of [[Chaytor's Force]] during the [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign|Palestine Campaign]], though he remained in a [[Cairo]] hospital with dysentery. In 1918, after a period of guarding prisoners of war in the Egyptian desert, his battalion was transferred to [[Sarafand al-Amar|Sarafand]]. On 13 December 1918 he was demoted from corporal to private, fined three days' pay and transferred to the lowest company in the battalion. He had been five days absent without leave visiting friends in [[Jaffa]]. He was demobilised in early 1919.<ref>Teveth (1987) pp. court martial 135, 136, demob 144</ref>

[[File:Paula Monbas and David Ben Gurion before their wedding in New York.jpg|thumb|David and Paula Ben-Gurion, 1 June 1918]]