Israel: A David Come to Judgment

David Ben-Gurion, 79, has been of two minds about Levi Eshkol, 70. First, he named him heir to Israel and the Mapai Party. Then, two years later, he proclaimed Eshkol “unfit to govern,” and announced that he would challenge him at the polls. Last week, in Israel’s national elections, Ben-Gurion turned out to be right the first time—when he let Eshkol become Premier.

The Mapai Party won 43 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, one more than it had held before the election. With the aid of its traditional allies among the smaller labor, religious and Arab parties, Eshkol should have no trouble when it comes to forming a coalition. Ben-Gurion’s Rafi Party, a splinter of the Mapai, formed to challenge Eshkol earlier this year, made a poor showing. Rafi won ten seats, though Ben-Gurion had hoped for 15 or 20. Most observers had thought he would get them too, after Rafi collected 12% of the vote in the September elections for Histadrut, the national labor union that enrolls 40% of Israel’s electorate.

The Histadrut elections, in fact, may have been responsible for Mapai’s eventual triumph. Shocked by their results, Eshkol fired his campaign managers, revved up his multimillion-dollar campaign. Chief strategist and fund raiser: silver-tongued Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir. Publicity director: equally eloquent Deputy Premier Abba Eban, former Ambassador to the United Nations. Eshkol himself campaigned as the candidate of unity and stability, asked only for “four years of quiet to work,” and pleasantly referred to Ben-Gurion’s shrill taunts as “our little rupture in Mapai.” On election day, the Mapai mobilized 60,000 “volunteers” to get out the vote with bus and taxi, scheduled flights from the Red Sea to enable Tel Aviv vaca tioners to get home and cast their ballots.

There was talk of retirement for B-G, but the old man vowed to carry on his fight to save Israel from “Eshkol and his gang.” Eshkol himself let it be known that he was willing to welcome back into Mapai any repentant members of Ben-Gurion’s prodigal band. Trying hard not to sound smug, Eshkol raised a toast in brandy “L’Hayyim” (to life) and remarked, “Ben-Gurion asked the people to judge. They have judged.”