Ben-Gurion to Govern Israel as Result of
Record-Breaking Victory for Mapai Party
Direct JTA Teletype Wires to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM—David Ben-Gurion and his moderate
Socialist Mapai party appeared Wednesday to have scored
a major victory in the elections to the fourth Knesset,
Israel's parliament. On the basis of nearly complete but
unofficial returns, Mapai will increase its seats in the
Knesset from forty by at least six and perhaps as many
as nine seats.
- The right wing Herut, Which had talked about oust-
ing -Mapai from first place and actually hoped for 20
seats as against its previous 15, may receive no more
than 17 seats.
The biggest-losers were the General Zionists, who
may lose half of their present 13 seats, and the tiny
Communist party, which may
lose two of its six seats.
• •
• - • in last July's Haifa
ticipating
Achdut Avodah, the pro- riots, apparently had failed.
Socialist but anti-Soviet left
Observers speculating on
Wing party, lost two or three
the government - to emerge
of its 10 seats, while its more
leftist ally, Mapam, appeared from the new elections pre-
likely to maintain its nine dicted Wednesday that the
new Cabinet will ha_ve the
seats.
The National Religious Par- same components - as the one
ty held its 11 seats and the Ben-Gurion pulled down last
Progressive Party was consid- summer. It will be Mapai
ered likely to add one to its with Achdut Avoclah, Mapam
five seats. The three Arab par- and the Progressive Party.
ties, who together held seven
Such a coalition would have
seats, apparently lost them all. about the same majority as the
The bid of David Ben-Haroush, one from which Ben-Gurion
self-styled leader of the North resigned in the battle with the
African Oriental settlers, car- two left wing parties, Achdut
ried on from a jail cell_ where Avodah and Mapam, over the
he is serving a term for par- Israel arms sale to West Ger-
:
Governor Presents Feinberg Gift to
Hebrew University Library; Visits
Jerusalem's Williams-Hart Forest
During their visit in Israel, Governor and Mrs.
G. Mennen Williams conferred with Israeli government
officials and visited installations in which they were
especially interested, including the Hebrew University and
the site of the Williams and Hart Forest established by
the Jewish National Fund. The upper photo shows
Governor Williams presenting the Charles E. , Feinberg
collection of valuable manuscripts to Dr. Curt Wormann,
director of the Jewish National and Hebrew University
Library in Jerusalem. The gift from Mr. Feinberg, noted
collector of rare manuscripts, included 42 rare volumes
and a first edition of the 1473 Bible printed by Jensen
—all in their original bindings. The lower photo shows
Governor and Mrs. Williams at the site of the forest
planted in the hills of Jerusalem in honor of the Governor
and of Senator Philip A. Hart when the latter was Lieu-
tenant Governor of Michigan. Mrs. Williams and Boris
Joffe, executive director of the Detroit Jewish Community
Council are fourth and third to the right of the Governor.
Mrs. Joffe is third on the left of the Governor. Others
in the photo are Israeli Jewish National Fund and gov-
ernment -leaders.
many. It would have about 69
of the 120 seats in Knesset.
The Mapai victory in Tues-
day's elections was seen likely
to give Ben-Gurion the added
strength to strike a harder
bargain with potential coalition
partners. In the outgoing coali-
tion Mapai had 40 seats, plus
five pro Mapai Arab deputies
out of the 69 coalition votes.
Mapai now has 46 and perhaps
48 seats.
The initial analysis of the
election returns indicated a
notable victory for Mapai due
partly to the development of
genuine fear among many vot-
ers that Herut might become
a major factor in Israel's polit-
ical life: This possibility al).-
peared associated in Israel
,public opinion with strong arm
methods and even a vagne
specter of fascism. The conse-
quence was that many citizens
who were disillusioned with
Mapai, and might have ab-
stained from voting, decided to
vote for Mapai. Other voters,
only vaguely loyal to a particu-
lar party, voted for - Mapai out
of the same fear of Herut, it
was asserted.
The Mapai success also - could
be credited to thorough organ-
ization work. Mapai held thou-
-sands of small meetings in pri-
vate homes to explain the
party's platform.
- The • huge General Zionist
losses were attributed to in-
ternal dissensions, lack of ap-
pealing issues and organiza-
tion and, possibly, resentment
of a move which included the
son of the Sephardic Chief
Rabbi in a blatant bid for Ori-
ental votes.
The Communists lost votes
not only among Jewish vot-
ers, which was understand-
able, but also among the
Arabs where the Co _ mmu-
nists were strongest. This
may have been due to the
fact that identification of the
Soviet Union with President
Nasser of the United Arab
Republic has been less ob-
vious in recent months.
Balloting in Israel picked up
momentum after a slow start,
and by -mid-afternoon Tuesday
50 percent of the eligible vot-
ers had cast their ballots, in-
dicating a heavier vote than
in the 1955 tally when less
than three quarters of the vot-
ers went to the polls.
The spurt in voting followed
police removal from the prox-
imity of . the voting places of
groups of ultra orthodox Ne-
turei Karta agents who offered
sums ranging up to 20 pounds
for identity cards which must
be presented to poll officials
before a vote can be cast. The
zealots promised return of the
cards after the elections.
Supporters of the National
Religious Party were active at
the polls throughout the day
to disprove a last minute effort
by Agudat Israel to suggest
that the Chief Rabbinate Coun-
cil had intervened in the elec-
tion. The council made public
an announcement- in reply to a
query from a "religious voter"
as to whether it was permitted
to vote for secular parties. The
rabbis replied that the council
"does not assume it is- its- func-
tion to intervene in political
issues."
Rabbi- Amram Blau, leader
of the Neturei Karta, was de-
tained by police after he sta-
tioned himself near an-entrance
to the polling station in- the
Mea Shearim quarter. in Jeru-
salem to deter orthodox Jews
from voting on the premise
that the zealots did not recog-
nize the State of Israel.
Rabbi • Blau • stood near the
polling station "to see and be
seen". and loudly recited mourn-
ing prayers. Officials of the
religious parties, whose poten-
tial voters . Rabbi Blau had
been deterring, complained
that his actions violated elec-
tion laws -- which forbid cam-
paigning
pargning or pressure near poll-
ing stations.
President Itzhak Ben-Zvi
was among the earliest to
vote, but the. first large group
were orthodox Jews coming
from morning prayers. Then
came workers in essential
services. A large proportion
of the early voters were
people who had decided to
make election day a real holi-
day with outdoor camping.
Hundreds of vehicles brought
voters to the polls, while spe-
cial - canteens supplied poll
committee members with sand-
wiches. In Beersheba, cheese
supplies were low after all
available cheese was used for
food parcels for poll commit-
tee members who worked at
the vote count late into the
night. .
Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion voted at his summer
retreat at Sde Boker. Brig.
Chaim Laskov, Army Chief of
Staff, was the first to vote at
a special army poll at head-
quarters.
Voting began in unseason-
ably hot weather throughout
the_ country. There were 2,300
polling stations for the 1,200,-
000 eligible voters who chose
120 members of the new
Knesset.
The voting trend of some
160,000 Israelis voting for the
first time was a big question
of the election.
Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nis-
sin was among the early
voters, and after he cast his
ballot he wished the polling
station officials "good voting."
Hassidic Rabbis were - es-
corted to polling stations by
singing and dancing adher-
ents in demonstrations which
helped to puncture efforts of
zealott to persuade orthodox
Jews to boycott the 'election.
Eilat workers with - perma-
nent residence in northern
Israel were flown northward
at the expense of parties. Ma-
pai, for example, flew 100
supporters from Eilat and back.
Lively interest in the elec-
tion was shown in the Arab
sections of- Israel_ where some
75,000 to 90,000 Moslems and
Christians were eligible to
vote. -
Election day was a true
holiday in Israel. Schools,
banks, shops and civil services
were closed to permit the
people to exercise their fran-
chise. The high temperature
brought hundreds of families
out in their Sabbath best
clothes, adding to the impres-
sion of a Sabbath atmosphere.
That's Using Their Heads
Romania Starts
Terrorizing
Drive on Jews
The London Times reported
this week that a Romanian cam-
paign has been - inaugurated to
terrorize Jews who desire to
emigrate to -Israel..
The move, it is reported,. is
intended to break the Jews'
emotional:link- with Israel.
Many: Jews have signed_ to.
leave Romania, and -as a conse-
quence there have been many
arrests. Among those arrested
are listed a number' of pronii-
Arriving in Neiv York recently aboard the Zim Lines'
nent -Jewish leaders, including SS Zion, these pretty members of the Inbar Dance Theater'
Israel Hart, Kalman Bernstein, were met by the longshoremen's . strike. .The girls, born in
Efraim Zinger, Dr. Ernst Hor- Yemen, revert to the customs of their people as they tot their.
vath, , Dr. Led . Fried, Stefan own bags, ashore. Inbal will appear at Detroit's Masonic -
Kraus, •Lajos Gardo, Frau Mag- Temple on Nov. 21 as part. of a tour of 27 cities in the U.S -
dal Weussberger, David,Faibash - and Canada. Shown here, botton to top, are Hadassah BadouChe,.
and many others.
Dalia Kubani. Ruma Nachum and -Rachel Mori.