Efforts gather steam for US to mint coin honoring Golda Meir

By Lazar Berman

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25 April 2023, 2:56 pm

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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Golda Meir (left) meets US President Richard Nixon at the White House in Washington on March 1, 1973. (GPO)

In a time of heightened stress in the US-Israel relationship, a bipartisan initiative honoring former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir is gaining steam on Capitol Hill.

The Prime Minister Golda Meir Commemorative Coin Act — which would see the US Treasury mint a coin to honor Meir and the 75th year of the bipartisan relationship — was submitted by Florida Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz in February to the House Committee on Financial Services. It is co-sponsored by some 16 Democratic lawmakers and eight Republicans.

It will be submitted in the Senate in the coming days, sponsored by Maryland Democrat Benjamin Cardin and Texas Republican Ted Cruz.

Meir would be the first foreign leader to receive such an honor.

There will also be a Yom Ha’atzmaut luncheon in Congress on Thursday during which members will have the opportunity to voice support for the initiative.

So far, 70 lawmakers have RSVPed that they will be attending.

“It shows that Israel is still something very important to them,” Los-Angeles based real-estate developer and philanthropist Bobby Rechnitz tells The Times of Israel.

Rechnitz, who was part of the successful effort to have the Congressional Medal of Honor given to Shimon Peres, is chairing the Golda Meir coin committee.

“I thought it would be very important at a time like this that there’s a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration in the halls of Congress in the United States of America, particularly in the year 2023,” he continues. “With everything going in the United States and in Israel right now – and there are many similarities – it’s very important to have something that’s unifying.”

The bill will need ⅔ support in both houses of Congress. Proceeds from the coin’s sales will go to Netanya’s Laniado Hospital.

The lobbying effort is expected take two-three years, according to Rechnitz, but he is confident that it will succeed.

“She just has so many levels that everyone can identify with in both countries, most importantly the United States can identify with,” he says. “Here’s an American-Israeli who made aliyah, helped build the country from its roots, became prime minister, was the fourth prime minister of Israel and one of the first woman leaders in the world.”

“What she’s done resonates with so many people on so many levels.”