Word: knesset
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Even with a new slate, Labor faces a potential electoral catastrophe in May. Tired, internally riven, battered by earlier scandals, the party was in poor shape for a fight before the latest disaster. Its strength in the 120-seat Knesset has dropped in the past twelve years, from 65 seats to 53. Moreover, the party bears an image of listlessness and indecision...
...charge that he 28 lacks the ability to lead. That, along with rising prices, high taxes and rampant inflation, has sapped Rabin's power to the point that he recently resigned and called for new elections (TIME, Jan. 3). Rabin was appointed caretaker Premier, and last week the Knesset formally voted a bill of dissolution and set the election for May 17. The vote, six months ahead of schedule, will almost certainly focus on domestic issues. It will also delay the resumption of serious Middle East peace talks, even though Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Syria's Hafez...
...founding fathers of Israel, Knesset Member Shlomo Lorincz reminded his parliamentary colleagues, used to joke that when their state became a full-fledged nation, it would even have "Jewish crooks." Well, Lorincz added caustically, referring to the scandals that have rocked Yitzhak Rabin's government, "we are more than a nation. We are a superpower...
...materialistic scandals similar to those in larger and older nations from which less purity of purpose is expected? The theories range from the cupidity that is inevitable in a long-entrenched government to Israel's "clan mentality" that blurs the dividing line between public purse and private pocket. Knesset Member Shmuel Tamir also points out, "We have people in charge of budgets with hundreds of thousands of Israeli pounds who receive very small salaries, hardly enough for the average man to live on. You can't expect a whole society to be watertight, idealistic and dedicated...
...billion budget in 1976. Welfare payments ($2.2 billion last year) are another political untouchable. The Histadrut, Israel's all-powerful labor federation, is dead set against wage controls; workers strike like clockwork to protest high prices, and nearly always win raises from management. Last week in the Knesset (parliament), the right-wing opposition party, Likud, pushed into committee four bills requiring arbitration in labor disputes involving various public service workers. The Histadrut set off a thunderous cry, and the bills are expected to die in the committee, which Rabin's Laborites control...