| August 20, 1951 |
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August 15, 1955 |
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Selected Events:
4.11.1951
| Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett announced the receipt of American aid, valued at $64,950,000. |
10.12.1951
| A debate was held regarding the
sailors’ strike in the Merchant Fleet. The strike began after the their
request to operate a union external to the Histadrut was denied.
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20.12.1951
| An announcement was made by Labor
Minister Golda Meirson regarding the situation in the transit camps
during the winter, followed by her suggestion to discuss the issue at
the Committee of Labor and Public Services.
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9.1.1952
| The Knesset decided to begin
negotiations with the Government of West Germany on reparations,
intended for the rehabilitation, reparation and absorption of Nazi
persecuted Jews. The debate was held after enraged protests outside of
the Knesset building. |
21.1.1952
| MK Menahem Begin was suspended from
participating in the Knesset sittings for three months, due to
his participation in the demonstrations against the reparations
agreement with West Germany held on January 7th.
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13.2.1952
| Prime Minister David Ben Gurion
presented a new economic plan to the Knesset. Its aims included the
restraint of inflation, an increase in capital flow and the enhancement
of productivity. |
27.8.1952
| A no-confidence motion was introduced
by the United Workers’ Party regarding the purchase of military
equipment from the United States. |
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27.1.1953
| Finance Minister Levi Eshkol announced an increase in consumer prices. |
16.2.1953
| Prime Minister Moshe Sharett
announced that the Soviet Union suspended its diplomatic relations with
Israel, following an explosion at the Soviet embassy in Tel Aviv in
which three people were injured, including the Ambassador’s wife. |
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| A Selection of Enacted Laws |
| | Knesset Buildings Immunity Law, 5712-1952 |
| | Nationality Law, 5712-1952 |
| | World Zionist Organization – Jewish Agency (Status) Law, 5713-1952 |
| | State Education Law, 5713-1953 |
| | Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Commemoration (Yad Vashem) Law, 5713-1953 |
| | Anatomy and Pathology Law, 5713-1953 |
| | National Service Law, 5713-1953 |
| | Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law, 5713-1953 |
| | Supreme Hebrew Language Institute Law, 5713-1953 |
| | National Insurance Law, 5714-1953 |
| | Penal Law Revision (Abolition of the Death Penalty for Murder) Law, 5714-1954 |
| | Bank of Israel Law, 5714-1954 |
| | Military Justice Law, 5715-1955 |
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Overview
The
Second Knesset officiated for four years, during which four governments
were formed – the Third to Sixth Governments. The first two were headed
by David Ben Gurion and the latter by Moshe Sharett. The Third
Government was dissolved by Ben Gurion on grounds of the dispute with
the religious parties on their educational system and the drafting of
religious girls to national service. The Fourth Government was dissolved
upon Ben Gurion’s retirement from public life and his settlement in
Kibbutz Sde Boker. The Fifth Government was dissolved by Sharett,
following the decision of coalition members, the General Zionists
faction, to abstain in a no-confidence motion in the Government, while
refusing to resign from it.
The elections to the Second Knesset strengthened the General
Zionists, while the Herut faction weakened. The four religious parties,
who were united in the elections for the First Knesset, competed in four
separate lists: Poel Mizrahi, Mizrahi, Agudat Yisrael and Po’alei
Agudat Yisrael. The workers’ and Arab parties, related to the Workers’
Party of Eretz Yisrael (Mapai) encompassed 65 seats in the Knesset, but
the workers’ parties saw a major crisis during this time: The tension
between Mapai and the United Wokers’ Party (Mapam) increased over the
continuing sailors’ strike, which broke out during the First Knesset.
Mapam and Ahdut Ha’avoda dissolved their partnership, though they
remained in a single faction. Many Kibbutzim split politically at this
time, while their members were torn between the “HaKibbutz HaMeuhad”
movement, connected with the Ahdut Ha’avoda party, and the “Ihud
HaKvutzot veHaKibbutzim,” connected with Mapai.
A central concern at this time involved the Reparations Agreement
with Germany. It was triggered by the difficult state of Israel’s
economy, though it still caused a great uproar for moral reasons. Many
citizens felt that Israel should not be compensated in material for the
damages caused to the Jewish people by the Third Reich. For the first
and last time, the Knesset building was attacked (physically) because of
this ideological dispute. The attackers were led by the head of the
Herut movement.
The Reparations Agreement was part of the new economic policy
adopted in 1952, following severe economic distress – mainly among
immigrants at the transit camps. The new economic policy introduced a
sharp devaluation of the Israeli Lira, the termination of pricing
regulations, the adoption of a restrained fiscal and monetary policy,
the encouragement of export, and the increase in loans and contributions
made by citizens and from Jews of the Diaspora. Each step in the
policy’s implementation drew widely discussed ideological debates at the
Knesset. This policy resulted, within a year, in increased economic
growth, which continued for twenty years.
The Government’s decision to adopt a western orientation, which
brought about the beginning of American aid and strong connections and
weapon trade with France, was debated intensely in the Knesset. Trials
on anti-Semitic grounds in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union led to
the Soviet Union’s termination of diplomatic relations with Israel in
1953. Though the diplomatic relations were resumed several months later
and Israel pledged not to join an anti-Soviet alliance, the Soviet Union
grew gradually closer to Egypt and other Arab countries. Israel’s
reluctance to officially identify with the Soviet Union or with the
United States was dismissed after being left out of the Bandung
Conference in 1955. The Mapam and Maki factions were the main opposition
to the Government’s pro-western policy.
During the tenure of the Second Knesset, the Palestinian Fedayeen
increased their attacks (not referred to as “terror” at the time), by
penetrating to Israel from the Egyptian and Jordanian borders. The most
severe attack occurred on an Egged bus at Maale Akrabim in the Negev, in
which 11 Israeli citizens were killed. Furthermore, Egypt harassed
Israeli ships making their way towards the Suez Canal, and Syria
regularly attacked Israeli territory in the north. All of these security
issues were the subject of much debate in the Knesset and were brought
up for debate by Israel at the UN.
The accelerated legislation of the Second Knesset helped to shape
the image of the State for many years to come. The State Education Law
did not annul all educational streams, but had reduced their number and
assembled most into a unified system. The religious parties made their
mark in several laws, called “religious legislation,” among them the
Anatomy and Pathology Law and the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction Law.
Shortly after Moshe Sharett assumed his role as Prime Minister the
“Regrettable Affair” (“Esek Bish”) broke out. The affair stirred the
political system and influenced many events for nearly a decade. It
began in 1954, when an Israeli-operated Jewish spy cell was unmasked in
Egypt, following a failed sabotage. Two of the cell members were
executed and the others arrested. The Israeli public anticipated an
answer as to the responsible official parties. The origin of the order
is still unknown, but Minister of Defense Pinhas Lavon resigned and
David Ben Gurion assumed his post.
Another turbulent affair at this time was the Kastner affair. Israel
Kastner, a senior personality in Mapai, was accused of cooperating with
the Nazis in Hungary during the Second World War and supplying
testimony in favor of a Nazi criminal in the Nuremberg trials. A
district court found Kastner guilty, in a verdict later overturned by
the Supreme Court. This affair brought the Herut and Maki factions to
initiate no-confidence motions, in which the General Zionists abstained
and brought about the resignation of Prime Minister Sharett. His new
government was formed without the General Zionists.
In an attempt to stabilize the political system, Ben Gurion proposed
a new electoral system that would replace direct proportional elections
with regional. Mapai approved the plan at the end of 1954, but it
failed to pass in the Knesset, as most parties feared it will benefit
mostly Mapai, bringing them an easy majority of Knesset seats.
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24.3.1954
| A debate was held on the Prime
Minister’s announcement regarding terror activities at Maale Akrabim, in
which Jordanian infiltrators attacked a bus on its way from Eilat to
Tel Aviv, killing 11 citizens, among them children.
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5.7.1954
| Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon made an
announcement regarding the Jordanian shelling of Jerusalem and the
Syrian attack on a police patrol boat in the Sea of Galilee. |
28.7.1954
| A debate was held on the legislative proposal of the Maki faction on the subjects of minimum wage and equal pay for equal work.
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11.8.1954
| The House Committee recommended for
the first time the suspension of a Knesset member’s immunity: The MK was
Shlomo Lavie of Mapai, who was involved in a traffic accident in which a
man was killed.
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13.12.1954
| Prime Minister Sharett informed the
Knesset regarding the opening of the trial in Egypt against 13 members
of a Jewish spy cell, uncovered after a series of bombings in Cairo and
Alexandria. The affair was later known as the “Regrettable Affair”
(“Esek Bish”) or the “Lavon Affair.” |
27.12.1954
| Transportation Minister Yosef Sapir
announced that in the past five years 1,027 persons were killed in
traffic accidents, two thirds of them were pedestrians. |
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| Ben Gurion and Pinhas Lavon |
Bus attack at Maaleh Akrabim |
Changing of the Prime Minsiters |
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31.1.1955
| Prime Minister Moshe Sharett made and
announcement regarding the executions in Cairo of Dr. Moshe Marzuk and
Shmuel Azar, members of the spy cell operating in Egypt.
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21.2.1955
| The Prime Minister announced the
resignation of Pinhas Lavon from the Ministry of Defense and the
appointment of David Ben Gurion to the post, following the “Esek Bish.” |
28.6.1955
| The Herut and Maki factions raised
no-confidence motions regarding the Government’s treatment of the
Kastner affair. Kastner was found guilty in collaborating with the Nazis
in a verdict given on June 22nd by Justice Benjamin Halevi (later a
Member of Knesset) of the District Court of Jerusalem.
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