Premier Golda Meir was elected by acclamation last night to head the Labor Alignment’s list in next month’s elections and, by implication, to head the new government after elections. Mrs. Meir, thanking her party’s central committee for its support, indicated that she intended to serve out a full four year term.
“Four years have passed since the last elections and you served the years with me,” she said, “but when you reach my age you will realize that four years is quite a time.” Mrs. Meir is 75 and will be 79 when her next term of office expires.
She will go to Strasbourg next week to address a meeting of the Council of Europe. The Cabinet approved her journey yesterday but her departure and arrival dates have not been announced for security reasons. Mrs. Meir will be out of the country for several days.
The Premier told the Labor Alignment leaders that her past four years in office saw Israel’s front line “spread to distant lands wherever an Israeli may be.” She observed, “Bitter experience has taught us that all the preaching at us by friends to have patience does not help. Inasmuch as we do not seek an open war we are obliged to pursue this inescapable confrontation.”
Referring to domestic problems, Premier Meir urged the Labor Alignment to conceal nothing of the country’s problems from the electorate. “Everything must be done to mobilize sufficient funds to deal with those social problems for which money can provide the answer,” she said. But she warned that money cannot solve everything. She urged the Labor Movement to take the initiative in creating the right social atmosphere to alleviate social problems and improve immigrant absorption.
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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.
