November 1, 1965
Israel holds the election for the sixth Knesset. The Alignment, a merger of Mapai and Ahdut Ha’Avoda led by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, wins 45 seats to keep Eshkol as the head of the government. Rafi, a breakaway party formed by former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, wins 10 seats.
The background to the 1965 election began in June 1963 when Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister for the second time (he previously resigned in 1953 but returned to the premiership in 1955). The resignation came as a surprise to the members of Ben-Gurion’s Cabinet and to the Israeli public. Two days later, the Mapai Central Committee chose Finance Minister Eshkol to replace Ben-Gurion. Eshkol formed a new government June 26, 1963.
Though Eshkol was Ben-Gurion’s hand-picked successor, the former leader soon turned against Eshkol. The two clashed over a variety of issues, including: Eshkol’s refusal to reopen the Lavon Affair (a botched covert operation in Egypt in 1954 and its aftermath); Eshkol’s cooperation with President Lyndon Johnson in developing the Dimona nuclear facility; and the government’s decision to rebury the ideological leader of the Israeli political right, Ze’ev Jabotinsky, in Jerusalem. Ben-Gurion fumed at Eshkol for aligning with the “middle generation” of Mapai leaders — Golda Meir, Pinhas Sapir and others — while marginalizing Ben-Gurion proteges Shimon Peres and Moshe Dayan.
At the 1965 Mapai party convention, Ben-Gurion and the young guard again called for the reopening of the Lavon Affair and opposed Eshkol’s proposal to combine Mapai and Ahdut Ha’Avoda. A secret ballot at the convention resulted in a victory for Eshkol, who fought back the challenge from Ben-Gurion and fortified the left by merging Mapai and Ahdut Ha’Avoda into what came to be known as the Alignment. Ben-Gurion would leave the party and establish Rafi.
Click here to see the results of all Knesset elections. For the a more detailed analysis of the 1965 Knesset election, visit the National Library of Israel.
