Ninth Government of Israel

Elections to the Fourth Knesset were held on November 3, 1959.[2] Mapai, headed by David Ben-Gurion, won 47 seats, its strongest election result to that point.[2] Because Mapai did not hold an outright majority in the 120-seat Knesset, Ben-Gurion assembled a broad coalition that included Mapai, the National Religious Party, Mapam, Ahdut ha-Avodah-Po'alei Zion, the Progressive Party, the Religious Front, and three minority lists associated with Mapai.[2][3] The National Religious Party rejoined after an arrangement was reached concerning the registration issue that had affected the previous government.[2]

The political setting was broadly favorable. The period saw a rapid rise in the standard of living, an almost total cessation of border incidents on all fronts, development of the port of Eilat, and improved relations with several Asian and newly independent African countries.[2] The cabinet brought several notable figures into government: Abba Eban, recently returned after eight years as ambassador to the United States and the United Nations; Moshe Dayan, a former chief of staff; and Giora Yoseftal, formerly treasurer of the Jewish Agency. Shimon Peres, previously director general of the Ministry of Defense, became deputy minister of defense.[2]

Ben-Gurion served simultaneously as prime minister and minister of defense. The Jewish Virtual Library's cabinet table lists 16 ministers.[1] Golda Meir served as foreign minister; Levi Eshkol as finance minister; Moshe Dayan as agriculture minister; and Abba Eban initially as minister without portfolio. Shimon Peres served below cabinet rank as deputy minister of defense.[1][2]

Other portfolios were held by Ya'akov Moshe Toledano for religious affairs, Pinhas Rosen for justice, Giora Yoseftal for labor, Zalman Aranne for education and culture, Behor Shalom Shitrit for police, Mordechai Bentov for development, Pinhas Sapir for trade and industry, Moshe Shapira for the interior, Israel Barzilai for health, Yosef Burg for social welfare, and Yitzhak Ben-Aharon for transport. Katriel Katz served as cabinet secretary.[1] During the government's tenure, Eban succeeded Aranne as education minister, and Benjamin Minz joined the cabinet as minister of postal services.[2]

One of the government's first tasks was arranging the election of Israel's chief rabbis, but political controversies delayed the election for five years. The Ashkenazi chief rabbinate had been vacant since the death of Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog on July 25, 1959.[2]

In April 1960, a dispute over secondary-school teachers' demands for salary increases and recognition of a separate union led Education Minister Zalman Aranne to resign; Abba Eban later replaced him.[2] In May, the Religious Front introduced a no-confidence motion concerning how many Jews had left Egypt during the Exodus. Ben-Gurion responded that the Knesset could not decide questions of history and faith.[2] Benjamin Minz was appointed minister of postal services in July. Disagreement within the Religious Front over his appointment contributed to its division into separate Agudat Israel and Po'alei Agudat Israel parliamentary groups.[2]

Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal, was captured by the Mossad in Argentina in May 1960. His trial opened before the District Court in Jerusalem in April 1961 and was identified as the principal event of the Fourth Knesset's short period.[4]

The Lavon Affair proved the decisive political crisis of the Ninth Government. It concerned a botched Israeli operation in Egypt that became associated with former Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon.[3] By late 1960, Ben-Gurion was insisting that Lavon be removed as secretary-general of the Histadrut labor federation, while criticism of Ben-Gurion's conduct mounted within the coalition.[2][3]

On January 30, 1961, the Knesset rejected a no-confidence motion related to the affair by 77 votes to 26. Nevertheless, severe criticism from Mapam, Ahdut ha-Avodah-Po'alei Zion, and the Progressives led Ben-Gurion to submit his resignation the following day.[2] Those parties subsequently refused to serve under him in a new government, while the National Religious Party was unwilling to remain Mapai's only coalition partner. Mapai declined to put forward another candidate for prime minister, and the Knesset voted on March 13 to dissolve itself and call new elections.[2]

An Israeli Ministry of Defense archival description characterizes the Lavon Affair as having undermined the foundations of Israeli governance and as later contributing to Ben-Gurion's eventual resignation as prime minister.[5]

Early elections were held on August 15, 1961. Mapai won 42 seats, five fewer than in 1959, and Ben-Gurion assembled another government with a party configuration similar to that of the preceding coalition.[3] The Ninth Government formally remained in office until November 2, 1961, when its successor took office.[1] The crisis surrounding the Lavon Affair thus brought the Fourth Knesset to an early end and left it as the shortest Knesset term in Israeli history.[3]

The designation “Ninth Government” follows the cabinet sequence presented by the Jewish Virtual Library, citing the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which dates this Ben-Gurion government from December 17, 1959, to November 2, 1961.[1] The contemporary political encyclopedia table likewise labels the coalition formed after the 1959 election as the ninth government.[2] Cabinet numbering is distinct from parliamentary numbering: the Ninth Government served during the Fourth Knesset.