1959 Elections

  

Elections for the fourth Knesset were held in November 1959. The leader of Mapai, David Ben Gurion, enjoyed seniority after coming out of retirement at Sde Boker and neutralizing his rivals Moshe Sharett and Pinchas Lavon. From Ben Gurion's perspective, the period preceding the elections saw the echoes of the "affair" die down and the path to power seemed clear. Indeed, in 1959, David Ben Gurion had absolute control over Mapai. Nevertheless, there was internal foment in the party over the struggle between the middle generation and the young generation. Representatives of the middle generation, Golda Meir, Pinchas Sapir, Pinchas Lavon and others, were under pressure from the younger generation – Moshe Dayan, Shimon Peres, and Abba Even. Ben Gurion, who was 73 years old, directed the younger generation's campaign. Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres, his protégés, were his agents during Moshe Sharett's term of office as prime minister. Now, on the eve of the elections, Ben Gurion had an opportunity to determine who would lead the country as his successor or, at least, which generation of leadership would lead the State of Israel in the post-Ben Gurion period, which still seemed remote.
בקיבוץ שדה בוקר, ראש הממשלה דוד בן-גוריון מטיל את פתק ההצבעה שלו.
 

 

Posters and Advertisements Press Photographs
כרזות וכרוזים​ עיתונות תצלומים​
 

 

All Elections
​1949 •​ 1951​ •​ 1955 •​ 1959 •​ ​1961 •​​ 1965 •​​ ​1969 •​​ 1973 •​​ 1977 •​​ 1981

 

1984​ •​​ 1988​​​ •​​ 1992​ •​​ 1996​​ •​​ 1999​​ •​​ 2001​​ •​​​​ 2003​​ •​​​ 2006 •​​​​ 2009​​

  

 

  

Registration of immigrants

In early 1958, population registry clerks received a directive from the minister of the interior according to which people should be registered according to their own declaration. If a person declared he or she was Jewish, they should be registered as such, and if a couple declared that their children were Jewish, they should be registered as such. The directive and its publication caused an outcry in the religious community because it appeared to be  was perceived as an instruction to the clerks to register people as Jews when they are not recognized as such by Jewish law.

 
In June of that year, the government of Israel added the caveat "and is not a member of another religion" to the directives, but decided that parental declaration that their child was Jewish would suffice for registration purposes. This was unacceptable to the religious parties and resulted in the Mafdal's resignation from the government. David Ben Gurion established a ministerial commission to examine the issue. In October 1958 Ben Gurion sent a letter to several Jewish personalities around the world, asking their opinion regarding the possibility of defining Jewish national identity separately from Jewish religious identity. Most sided with Orthodox Judaism's position, but the question of "who is a Jew?" was not resolved. It would play a part in Israeli public and political life for many years to come. 
על הפרדת הדת מהמדינה - נקודת המבט של תנועת המזרחי חזית דתית תורתית

Wadi Salib

Several months before elections for the fourth Knesset, the Wadi Salib riots broke out. The riots began in July 1959, when the police intervened in a disturbance of the peace in a neighborhood coffee shop in Wadi Salib, in lower Haifa. The police shot a local resident, who was drunk and disorderly, in the leg. Residents gathered and protested at the scene of the incident and the following days were marked by protests following unfounded rumors according to which the man, Yaakov Elkarif, had died of his injuries. The demonstrations spilled over into nearby Haifa neighborhoods and involved stone throwing, looting of businesses, barricading of roads and vandalization of the Mapai and Histadrut branches. Riots also occurred in other towns in Israel. The government set up a state commission of inquiry to investigate the events.

 

At the commission's hearings, immigrants from North Africa claimed that they were the victims of discrimination and neglect on the part of the establishment. The Wadi Salib riots raised public awareness of the distress and displeasure of the Mizrahi immigrant population. The government responded promptly and dealt with the focus of the riots, Wadi Salib. There was a political furor, and the questions came up during the election campaign, but Mapai managed to limit the damage to its image that the riots could well have caused.

ישראל בעליה אומרת כן להורדת שכר הלימוד
 

 

Posters and Advertisements Press Photographs
כרזות וכרוזים​ עיתונות תצלומים​
 

 

All Elections
​1949 •​ 1951​ •​ 1955 •​ 1959 •​ ​1961 •​​ 1965 •​​ ​1969 •​​ 1973 •​​ 1977 •​​ 1981

 

1984​ •​​ 1988​​​ •​​ 1992​ •​​ 1996​​ •​​ 1999​​ •​​ 2001​​ •​​​​ 2003​​ •​​​ 2006 •​​​​ 2009​​

  

 

  

The period prior to elections for the fourth Knesset was quiet on most fronts. Israel was enjoying quiet on the security front and relative economic stability. The large waves of immigration were over and Mapai was safely ensconced in leadership after the echoes of the "affair" died down and Pinchas Lavon had been neutralized. Though it is difficult to pinpoint an event that affected the elections that were held in November 1959, it is clear in retrospect that there were signs of imminent disquiet on several fronts in Israeli society and public life.

 
Mapai was immersed in a bitter inter-generational struggle, between the middle and young generations. The "affair" threatened to return to haunt the various factions of leadership. Ethnic and class-based tensions that had broken out at Wadi Salib and ostensibly been addressed by the establishment of the Etzioni Commission and promoting of several legislative initiatives would also haunt Mapai, and the state, until the 1977 "revolution". Moreover, David Ben Gurion, the unchallenged leader of Mapai and the state, surrounded himself with young people and seemed to rule with an iron fist, a situation that would prevail as long as "the Old Man" wished it to. In contrast to the ostensible quiet, there were many undercurrents that would soon surface.
Mapai
 

 

Posters and Advertisements Press Photographs
כרזות וכרוזים​ עיתונות תצלומים​
 

 

All Elections
​1949 •​ 1951​ •​ 1955 •​ 1959 •​ ​1961 •​​ 1965 •​​ ​1969 •​​ 1973 •​​ 1977 •​​ 1981

 

1984​ •​​ 1988​​​ •​​ 1992​ •​​ 1996​​ •​​ 1999​​ •​​ 2001​​ •​​​​ 2003​​ •​​​ 2006 •​​​​ 2009​​

  

 

  

Moshe Dayan

Moshe Dayan (1915-1981), soldier and statesman, grew up in Nahalal. As a youth, he joined the Hagana. He was a guard and a member of Wingate's Special Night Squads. He participated in British military actions against the Vichy regime in Syria, in the course of which he lost an eye. He commanded a unit during the War of Independence and was included in the political dealings at its end. He was promoted through the ranks of the IDF and in 1953 became chief of staff. He was commander in chief of the IDF during the Sinai Campaign. Upon leaving the IDF in 1958, he joined Mapai and was elected to the fourth Knesset in 1959. He served as minister of agriculture until 1964. He joined Ben Gurion in establishing Rafi, as a representative of which he was elected to the Knesset in 1965. In the period preceding the Six-Day War he was appointed minister of Defense and designed defense policy before and after the war. He was minister of defense during the Yom Kippur War, and his public standing suffered because he was considered one of those responsible for the "fiasco". In 1977 he was elected to the Knesset on the Labor party list but joined Begin's government as foreign minister. He played a central role in the improving ties with Egypt and in the achievement of the peace treaty. In 1980 he resigned from the government because of delays in negotiations with the Palestinians. He established a party, was elected to the Knesset in 1981, but died shortly thereafter. 
משה דיין (1981-1915)
 

 

Posters and Advertisements Press Photographs
כרזות וכרוזים​ עיתונות תצלומים​
 

 

All Elections
​1949 •​ 1951​ •​ 1955 •​ 1959 •​ ​1961 •​​ 1965 •​​ ​1969 •​​ 1973 •​​ 1977 •​​ 1981

 

1984​ •​​ 1988​​​ •​​ 1992​ •​​ 1996​​ •​​ 1999​​ •​​ 2001​​ •​​​​ 2003​​ •​​​ 2006 •​​​​ 2009​​

  

 

  

Mapai's Arab Satellite Parties

In the elections for the fourth Knesset, Mapai sponsored three satellite Arab parties in order to fortify its overall position by approaching the Arab population directly. The three parties, Kidma U'Fituach, Shituf V'Achva and Agriculture and Development, ran as independent lists and were managed by Arab activists, but were actually puppets of Mapai. Together, the three parties obtained about 34,000 votes, which translated into five seats in the Knesset. These seats were added to Mapai's unprecedented sweep of 47 mandates, giving it an absolute majority.
 

Kidma U'Fituach, led by Ahmed A-Dahar and Elias Nahale won two seats. Shituf V'Achva also won two seats, putting Laviv-Hussein Abu-Rochan and Yussef Diab in the Knesset. Agriculture and Development won a single seat, which was taken by Mahmud A-Nashaf. These parties were part of the coalition but were not given ministerial or cabinet positions.  Kidma U'Fituach faded out in the 1970s while Shituf V'Achva disappeared at the end of the 1960s. Agriculture and Development did not manage to run in the 1961 elections. The story of these parties is the first chapter in the history of the fragmentation of the Arab electorate and an important chapter in the history of relations between the establishment and Arab Israeli citizens.  
פרסום תוצאות הבחירות - ניצחון גדול למפא"י שרת החוץ גולדה מאיר בפני אסיפת בחירות של מפא"י בראשון לציון.
 

 

Posters and Advertisements Press Photographs
כרזות וכרוזים​ עיתונות תצלומים​
 

 

All Elections
​1949 •​ 1951​ •​ 1955 •​ 1959 •​ ​1961 •​​ 1965 •​​ ​1969 •​​ 1973 •​​ 1977 •​​ 1981

 

1984​ •​​ 1988​​​ •​​ 1992​ •​​ 1996​​ •​​ 1999​​ •​​ 2001​​ •​​​​ 2003​​ •​​​ 2006 •​​​​ 2009​​