The Court of Honor of the Mapai Party began hearing today the arguments for expelling former Premier David Ben-Gurion and six of his followers for splitting away from the party and forming an independent Labor List for the November parliamentary elections.
The first speaker was Shimon Peres, who resigned as Deputy Defense Minister earlier this year to back Mr. Ben-Gurion’s challenge to Premier Levi Eshkol’s leadership of the party and the nation. Mr. Peres contended that, since the dispute was a major political issue, the proper forum for the hearing was a party convention and not the Court of Honor.
He also contended that two of the five judges were not impartial and demanded also that the matter be discussed in the party branches first. Nahum Shadmi, prosecutor for the case, replied that the dispute had been discussed in the party branches at length. Micha Kaspi, the attorney for Mr. Ben-Gurion, argued that the court was not eligible, to try Mr. Ben-Gurion and his followers.
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