A large number of foreign visitors from “sister Socialist parties” in various parts of the world joined Israel Labor Party leaders on the dais at the party convention. Two of them, Egypt’s former Premier Mustapha Khalil and Butros Ghali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, representing President Anwar Sadat’s National Democratic Party, contrived to arrive in Israel late lost night to avoid attending the convention opening in Jerusalem. The convention transferred to Tel Aviv this morning and they were present.
Other visitors included Francois Mitterrand, the French Socialist leader who represented the Socialist International. The foreign guests included a high-ranking minister from Rumania, another from Sierra Leone and on exile Chilean. Socialist leader. There were delegates representing all Western European Socialist parties. Mario Soarez of Portugal was unable to attend at he last minute because he was slightly injured in on automobile occident.
President Yitzhak Navon attended the convention opening, as he does the convention openings of all of Israel’s political parties. Although his office is non-political and he is barred from making statements favoring any particular faction, he told the Laborites, “I wish that you emerge whole in body and spirit from this convention.”
Mapam Secretary General Victor Shemtov exhorted Labor to “unite, conciliate, join hands here and now.” His plea was echoed by Histadrut Secretory General Yeruhom Meshel who warned that the notion “will not forgive us” if Labor misses its chance to change the government.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
