Premier-designate Yitzhak Rabin presented his new government to President Ephraim Katzir late last night with only 90 minutes to spare before the expiration of his midnight deadline. Missing from the new Cabinet are four veteran ministers who have been associated with Israel’s top leadership for most of the nation’s history. They are Premier Golda Meir; Foreign Minister abba Eban; Defense Minister Moshe Dayan; and Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir.
The Rabin government, approved yesterday by the Labor Party’s Executive and Knesset faction, must win a vote of confidence in the Knesset before it can take office. The vote probably will be held next Monday, and while the parliament is expected to endorse the Rabin slate, it may do so only by a very narrow margin. Every vote will count The Rabin government, based on a narrow coalition of the Labor Alignment, the Independent Liberal Party and the Civil Rights Party, commands only 61 Knesset votes and defections are possible from within Labor Party ranks, either by abstentions or negative ballots.
The Cabinet presented to President Katzir last night consists of the following: Premier, Yitzhak Rabin; Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, Yigal Allon; Defense Minister, Shimon Peres; Information Minister, Aharon Yariv; Minister of Education and Culture, Aharon Yadlin (presently Labor Party Secretary General); Minister of Commerce and Industry, Haim Barter; Minister of Transport, Gad Yaacobi; Police Minister, Shlomo Hillel; Minister of Justice, Haim Zadok; Housing Minister, Yehoshua Rabin owitz; Labor Minister, Moshe Bar’Am; Minister of Absorption, Shlomo Rosen; Minister of Health, Victor Shamtov; Minister of Agriculture. Aharon Uzzan; Minister of Tourism, Moshe Kol; Communications Minister, Avraham Ofer.
Ministers-Without-Portfolio are Shulamit Aloni, CRP leader; Gideon Hausner, of the ILP; and Israel Galili of the Labor Party who is a member of the outgoing Meir government.
EBAN EXPRESSES BITTERNESS
The position of Abba Eban is not certain. The outgoing Foreign Minister has made no effort to conceal his bitterness at being dropped by Rabin and abstained in the party voting yesterday. In a bitter speech at last night’s party meeting, Eban said it was wrong to pretend that Rabin had wanted him in the government but was unable to include him for technical reasons. He wondered aloud whether this would be the last time that Israel looks to the Labor Party for leadership. Rabin had included Eban in a provisional slate submitted to the party earlier in the week as Information Minister. Eban regarded that appointment as a demotion and said he would not serve in the new government.
Labor MK Mordechai Porat of the party’s Rafi faction has threatened to vote against the new government and then resign his Knesset seat. Two other Labor MKs, Yitzhak Navon and David Karen, also abstained yesterday. Navon explained later that he refused to vote because one of the ministers designated by Rabin was unsuitable for the Job. He did not name the minister and said he would support the government in the Knesset nevertheless.
Dayan also promised to vote for the Rabin regime, but only “under duress. Premier Meir herself seemed to be in a dilemma. She has vowed publicly not to support a government that includes Ms. Aloni and has indicated that she would resign her Knesset seat before the vote of confidence comes up. But this is precluded by Israeli law which requires an incumbent Prime Minister to remain in office until a successor is sworn in. She is expected to vote for the Rabin government, also “under duress.”
In the event of defections from within Labor ranks, the new government is expected to squeak through the Knesset with the support of the pro-Moscow Rakah Communists (four votes) and the far-left Moked faction (one vote). The National Religious Party and the Aguda bloc have not yet decided whether to vote against the Rabin regime or abstain–they will not vote for it. The Likud opposition is trying to persuade the religious parties to join it in a solid opposition phalanx of 54 seats. Likud leader Menachem Beigin has already denounced the new government as a national disgrace and the weakest in Israel’s history.
GOVERNMENT OF CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
Rabin himself declared last night that his government would be one of continuity and change. He said it would continue the work and achievements of the outgoing Meir government and at the same time try to affect needed changes in both domestic and foreign policies. “We stand before great challenges and from the experience of the Jewish people, we know that great challenges produce new and strong forces of leadership,” Rabin said.
The new government will not be complete when it takes office. When Sapir adamantly refused to continue in government service, Rabin was forced to select a last minute replacement for the key post in the person of Yaacov Levinson, an executive of the Histadrut-owned Bank Hapoalim (Workers Bank). But Levinson cannot assume the office for three months because of previous obligations. Rabin announced last night that Justice Minister-designate Haim Zadok will serve as acting Finance Minister for that period.
Similarly, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, traditionally held by the NRP, will be headed by an acting minister for the time being. Rabin has named Hillel for that task. He has not decided yet who will head the Welfare Ministry, also previously held by the NRP. The three ministries are being kept vacant on the chance that the NRP will eventually join the new coalition–but they will not be kept open indefinitely.
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.
