Non-confidence Motion over Lavon Affair Defeated in Knesset

A motion of non-confidence in the Cabinet over Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s stand concerning the Lavon Affair was defeated today in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, by a vote of 77 to 26. The motion had been introduced jointly by Herut and the General Zionists, neither of which parties is a member of the coalition Government.

The National Religious party, which is a member of the coalition, did not support the non-confidence motion or take part in the Knesset debate. However, three-of the parties that voted against the motion–Mapam, Ahdut Avodah and the Progressives–issued statements opposing Mr. Ben-Gurion’s request that Pinhas Lavon, secretary-general of Histadrut, Israel’s Federation of Labor, resign from his post. In the debate on the motion, speakers representing these parties indicated dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s actions in the Lavon Affair.

Arieh Ben-Eliezer, for Herut, and Elimelech Rimalt, for the General Zionists, told the Knesset that Mr. Ben-Gurion himself had indicated non-confidence in his own Cabinet. They recalled that, on December 25, the Prime Minister attacked a report made by a seven-member Ministerial Committee which absolved Mr. Lavon of responsibility for the 1954 “security mishap” which resulted in Lavon’s resignation from the Defense Ministry in 1955. They pointed out that Mr. Ben-Gurion had accused that committee of making a report that was “biased, a miscarriage of justice based on half-truths.”

Finance Minister Levi Eshkol, replying for the Government, said it is “untrue” that the Premier had expressed non-confidence in the Government. He said that the members of the seven-member Ministerial Committee criticized by Mr. Ben-Gurion over the Lavon report “are the best judges as to whether they have a grievance, and the Cabinet considers the matter closed. ” He insisted that the Government is functioning “normally. “

The statements by Mapam, Ahdut Avodah and the Progressives warned Mapai not to back-Mr. Ben-Gurion on his request for the ousting of Mr. Lavon from the Histadrut secretary-generalship. They stated that such a step would be a grave blow to a person whom various inquiries have exonerated, who succeeded in clearing his name after six years of being under a heavy cloud, and would encourage anti-democratic forces. The Mapam spokesman added that the ouster of Mr. Lavon “would make of Histadrut a mere arm of the Government, instead of an independent body. “

Rabbi I. M. Levin, for the Agudat Israel party, told the Knesset that his party has no confidence in the present Government. He said that the entire Lavon issue “has hurt Israel and has influenced our youth badly.”