Lecture
Philip Rubenstein
Wednesday 7.01.2026
Philip Rubenstein
Israel’s Prime Ministers, Part 1: The Burden of Power
Wednesday 7.01.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 7 January at 5:00pm (UK).
Summary
The first in a series surveying Israel’s prime ministers, examining how the different leaders shaped the role—and how the role shaped them. Moving from B-G to Bibi, the series follows the evolution of leadership style, power, and political culture against a 77-year backdrop of unrelenting pressure: war, coalition politics, social change and Israel’s place in the world. These talks focus not just on events, but on the people: their backgrounds, instincts, and choices, as well as the long shadows they cast. We begin with early arguments about how the new state should be governed, and with David Ben-Gurion—the first of Israel’s 14 prime ministers (to date) and the figure who defined what the job would become.
Philip Rubenstein
Philip Rubenstein was director of the Parliamentary War Crimes Group, which, in the mid-to-late 1980s, campaigned to bring Nazi war criminals living in the UK to justice. Philip was also the founder-director of the Holocaust Educational Trust and played a role in getting the study of the Shoah onto the national school’s curriculum in the UK. These days, he works with family businesses, advising on governance and continuity from one generation to the next.