Last Minute News Motion of Non-confidence in Israel Government Defeated in Knesset

The Ben Gurion government beat off a motion of non-confidence in its economic policy today. The vote in Parliament was 59 to uphold the government, 23 against and six abstentions. The General Zionists and Herut teamed up against the government, while the Communists and Agudists abstained. At the end of the session the Knesset adjourned for the Summer, to return after the High Holidays.

Dr. Peretz Bernstein, General Zionist leader, charged that the government’s granting of wage increases and imposition of new taxes had forced up the inflationary spiral. He insisted that the situation with taxes had reached the “saturation point.” Even if the government wished to do something about the present situation, Dr. Bernstein said, it could not because of its party composition–a reference to the left-wing parties–and its Socialist policy.

Finance Minister Levi Eshkol denied that the economy was in crisis and said that the best description of the situation was that there was a struggle against crisis. He cited the rise in exports and an increase in private capital investments over last year when, he pointed out derisively, Dr. Bernstein was a member of the government. The country must export more, Mr. Eshkol said, asserting that Israelis were living at a higher economic standard than the country could support.

A bill to restrict the raising of swine to specific areas of Israel and to give municipalities the legal right to ban the raising of hogs and the sale of pork passed its first reading in Parliament today. The vote was 40 to 13, with eight abstentions. Most of the government parties voted for the measure, as did the General Zionist and Herut parties, but Mapam and Achdut deputies joined Communists in opposition. Ministers representing the Achdut Avodah and Mapam absented themselves rather than be in the position of voting for or against the measure.