With only two days left before the casting of ballots in Israel’s national elections, the election campaign reached its peak today when more than 700 political rallies were held throughout the country. They were addressed by the top leaders of all political parties and it is estimated that they drew some 700,000 persons.
In an all-out effort to win the votes of the more than 1,000,000 electors, the General Zionists, Mapai and Leachduth Avodah took to the sea and the air. The Labor parties ran up signs and slogans on motor boat flotillas and performed “naval” maneuvers in full view of the hundreds of thousands who took to the seashores at Tel Aviv and elsewhere on yesterday’s hot Sabbath. In the air, the General Zionists were flying giant balloons with their slogans and appeals.
The rallies today and yesterday were very well attended as compared to the rest of the campaign when few meetings, except those featuring top government figures, drew much of an audience. With every party pushing its best speakers into the foreground, some popular speakers addressed as many as ten meetings in the past 24 hours, hurrying from one part of the country to another.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
