The Israeli Parliament adopted today the three-month interim budget of 27,400,000 pounds proposed by Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan, after a turbulent scene in which, for the first time in the Knesset’s history, a deputy was ordered by the Speaker to leave the chamber.
The budget bill was carried by a vote of 46-13, with 10 of the deputies present abstaining. The Mapam, Herut and Communists opposed the measure which was supported by Mapai, the Religious parties and the Progressives. The General Zionists abstained. Some of the speakers expressed dissatisfaction with the bill but said they were voting for it because funds were required to carry on the government.
Speaker Josef Sprinzak ordered Communist deputy Schmuel Mikunis to leave the chamber after Mikunis, replying to an attack on the Communists by Labor Minister Golda Meyerson, shouted toward the Mapai benches, “You and the Mufti co-operated with the British, Now you’re co-operating with the Americans and all of you together are in the same camp as the Nazis.”
In the debate on the final reading of the measure, the Mapam demanded amendments providing higher rates on incomes in the upper brackets. Herut spokesmen demanded a reduction in government spending.
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