Identical motions of non-confidence in Premier Levi Eshkol’s coalition government were introduced in Parliament today by the two main opposition parties — the Gahal coalition of Herut and Liberals, and former Premier David Ben-Gurion’s dissident Israel Workers Party (Rafi). They were cleared for Knesset discussion Monday.
The motions have little chance of adoption because the Government is assured of the large majority on which the coalition is based. It was not certain even that all opposition parties would vote for the motion, despite the deliberately loose and general wording of the motions.
The motions read: “Whereas the Government causes deepening of the national crisis and lowering of Israel’s prestige in world public opinion, the Parliament expressed no confidence in the Government.”
Rafi leaders sought for several weeks to propose such a motion but gained Gahal support only now. The main value of the motion was seen as one of enabling opposition parties to air their views on the present political situation in Israel. Motions of non-confidence have succeeded only rarely in Israel’s Parliamentary history and then only when the coalition in power was already on the verge of breaking up which observers said was certainly not the case with the present government.
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