Word: knesset
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Limping Along. It was not the happiest of awakenings. Ben-Gurion found that though his Mapai Party remained the most powerful in the nation, it had lost five of its 47 seats in the 120-member Knesset. He called the vote a "victory" for Mapai but a "disaster" for Israel. Long opposed to the nation's proportional representation (he wants a U.S.-style two-party system), Ben-Gurion explained: "I've often said that, for me, 40 or 60 seats in the Knesset is the same thing. Only with a majority of 61 can the electoral system...
...Gurion told the Knesset, his country's Parliament, that U.S. Zionists think of Israel as a place not for themselves but for "homeless" Jews. "They are not truly Zionists if they do not settle in Israel." he cried. In fact, Ben-Gurion went on, "I know of only one Zionist in America whom I would call a Zionist. He does not think of himself as an American; he thinks of himself only...
...Israeli Parliament assembled last week for a humdrum budget debate. Then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion rose and, in a voice breaking with emotion, said: "I have to inform the Knesset that one of the greatest Nazi war criminals, Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible together with the Nazi leaders for what they called the 'final solution' of the Jewish question-that is, the extermination of 6,000.000 of the Jews of Europe-is under arrest in Israel and will shortly be placed on trial in Israel...
Heresy! Ben-Gurion himself seemed surprised at the furor that broke when his speech was reported in the Israeli press. Heresy, cried the Orthodox. The Mizrahi Party accused him of attacking the basic beliefs of Judaism. The ultraOrthodox Agudat Israel Party introduced in the Knesset a motion of no confidence...
Frantic politicking brought the Mizrahis back into the coalition government at the last minute and forestalled the possibility that Ben-Gurion and his Cabinet would have to resign. Foreign Minister Golda Meir persuaded Ben-Gurion not to make matters worse by engaging in a long scriptural argument on the Knesset floor with Agudat's white-bearded Rabbi Isaac Meir Levin. With several groups, including the Communists, abstaining, Biblical Scholar Ben-Gurion handily won his vote of confidence-61 to 6. But it was still a lesson in what every politician is supposed to know: that any utterance bearing...