Israel’s Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Commerce Minister Pinhas Sapir–two Mapai members of the Cabinet who had been refusing to serve in another Ben-Gurion Cabinet–were reported today as having reversed their refusal, thus making it easier for David Ben-Gurion to form a new government under his premiership.
The two, reportedly, agreed reluctantly only after close party associates had warned them that their refusal to serve in the new Cabinet may lead to the necessity of holding national elections which neither the country nor the Mapai party could afford at this stage.
Having won Mrs. Meir and Mr. Sapir, but unable still to overcome the reluctance of the Progressive party leaders to serve in another Cabinet under his premiership, Mr. Ben-Gurion today concentrated on winning the National Religious party with a view to forming a new government based on a narrow coalition of his own Mapai party, the Arab parties allied with Mapai, and the National Religious party. This coalition would command a majority of 67 out of the 120 votes in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.
BEN-GURION OFFERS THREE CABINET PORTFOLIOS TO RELIGIOUS PARTY
Mr. Ben-Gurion reportedly offered the National Religious party three Cabinet portfolios against the two it held in the previous government, appointment of a party member as Deputy Minister of Education and concessions long sought by the Religious group. Under his proposals, the Ministry for Religious Affairs would be one of the posts going to the junior partner in the coalition.
The National Religious party was said today to be badly split over the Ben-Gurion proposals and subject to intense pressure from Mapai to accept the offer and from the right-wing Herut party to reject it. The conservatives within the Religious party and those now in Government posts were reported today in favor of disregarding the Lavon affair and of joining the proposed new coalition. The leaders of the Religious Kibbutz movement and the young intellectuals of the party were opposed.
Menahem Beigin, leader of Herut, met Moshe Shapira, leader of the National Religious party, and proposed a wide coalition, headed by Mr. Shapira, of all parties except Mapai. Later, Mr. Ben-Gurion and Mr. Shapira had a three-hour meeting in which Shapira avoided definite commitments, stating only that he would present the Prime Minister’s views to the party executive. He promised Mr. Ben-Gurion an answer by tomorrow.
Hundreds of students demonstrated in Jerusalem this afternoon, protesting against the “anti-democratic” trends manifested in public circles in connection with the Lavon affair. They carried placards protesting the ouster of Pinhas Lavon as secretary-general of Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labor. Mr. Lavon was ousted by a solid Mapai vote last week after Mr. Ben-Gurion had announced he would not seek to form a new government unless Mr. Lavon were removed from office.
The demonstration was geared to coincide with the consultations now being conducted by President Izhak Ben-Zvi with party leaders over constitution of a new government, and was designed to influence the leaders to refuse to serve in a new coalition led by Mr. Ben-Gurion.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
