Although few people in Israel really believe that national elections will be held and despite the fact that the majority of the population is confident that at the last minute some solution will be found to avoid such elections, the Mapai party which is led by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion today started the election campaign.
The first large election rally was held in Tiberias and was addressed by Israel’s Foreign Minister Golda Meir and by Zalman Aranne, former Minister of Education. Although both of the speakers were among the strongest supporters of Pinhas Lavon in his fight with Mr. Ben-Gurion, they strongly defended Ben-Gurion’s Premiership in their speeches.
The Mapai election campaign was started following a decision during the weekend by the secretariat of the party to cease any further attempts to form, a coalition government, Premier Ben-Gurion participated in the meeting at which this decision was taken. It was emphasized by speakers at the election rally in Tiberias today that Mapai unsuccessfully made all possible concessions to other parties with a view to avoiding elections which Mapai leaders considered harmful to Israel in view of the international and political situation. The blame for holding elections therefore lies with the coalition partners.
Premier Ben-Gurion today presided over the Cabinet meeting for the first time since he angrily walked out of the Cabinet session on December 25, when the Cabinet approved the Ministerial Committee report exonerating Lavon from responsibility for the 1954 security mishap.
Under Ben-Gurion’s chairmanship, the Cabinet today approved a series of amendments to the election law, including an amendment which provides for the forfeiture of a 10,000-pound bond by any group which puts up a list of candidates for elections if the list does not obtain one percent of all the votes. In the last national elections 12 lists of candidates did not obtain this minimum. Today’s Cabinet decision, which will have to be approved by Parliament, is designed to discourage a repetition of such a development.
The Cabinet also discussed the strike of the high school teachers which entered today its third week. About 1,500 teachers are involved in the strike which was precipitated by the demand for higher wages. Levi Eshkol, in his capacity as chairman of the special ministerial committee dealing with the problem, reported to the Cabinet on the arrangements which the Ministry of Education is making for holding final examinations of 4,000 high school seniors should the strike not be settled before the end of the term. About 25,000 students in the lower classes are also affected by the strike.
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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.
