On an unusually hot and humid day, Israelis flocked to the country’s 2,600 polling places today, using every mode of transportation from camels to airplanes, or walking from their homes to the nearest precinct, to cast their votes in the country’s fifth general election. From 14 party lists, Israel was choosing the 120 members of its next Knesset (Parliament).
Voting was very heavy in this city during the early hours this morning, since weather forecasts had predicted the extraordinarily high temperatures. By noon, the crowds at the polling stations had thinned down, but they were expected to become heavier again later in the day. In spite of an election campaign which, except in Tel Aviv, generated little excitement on the whole, it was believed that the total vote would be very heavy, with a very large percentage of Israel’s 1,260,000 registered voters exercising their franchise.
The country’s police forces were fully mobilized to check for any possible troubles. Police Chief Joseph Nahamias, with a group of aides, set up headquarters in an airplane flying over nearly the entire length and breadth of Israel. But by mid-afternoon there had been no incidents whatever — except in the Mea Shearim quarter of this city, where the ultra-zealous members of the Neturei Karta have their headquarters.
In Mea Shearim, police detained Rabbi Amram Blau, leader of the Neturei Karta, who was exhorting persons approaching one of the polling precincts not to participate in the “Zionist” elections. Members of Rabbi Blau’s group were picketing the polling station. Rabbi Blau said that his followers were taking down the names of Orthodox voters who “dared” to cast their ballots, and that “we may excommunicate them.” He was visibly disturbed when his own brother, Abraham Blau, entered the very precinct besieged by the Neturei Karta.
On the other hand, Agudat Israel, a religious party which participates fully in political activity, assigned women and young girls as baby-sitters and household aides in the quarter where many religious Jews live, so that the Orthodox women could go to the polls.
President and Mrs. Izhak Ben-Zvi were among the early voters here. At 8:30 this morning, the President and his wife walked from their home in the Rehavia quarter to their-polling place, nearby, and cast their ballots. As they left the polling place, Mr. Ben-Zvi told the election workers in the precinct: “Good luck and good election.”
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion voted at his home kibbutz in the Negev, while Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Herut leader Menahem Beigin voted in this city. Mayor Abba Khoushi of Haifa was among the first vote in his city. A number of the members of Israel’s Cabinet voted in their home kibbutzim in various parts of the – country. At all army installations, special voting precincts were set up where servicemen and women cast their ballots in double envelopes — one envelope indicating their home precinct which will receive the ballots by special couriers.
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.
