Yechiam Weitz, "The Change in Ben-Gurion’s Attitude toward the Herut Movement during the 1960s"
In July 1965, a few months before the elections to the 6th Knesset, David Ben-Gurion left his original political party, Mapai (Labor Party), and established a new party, Rafi (Israel Workers List). This move was largely the result of the bitter disagreement between Ben-Gurion and Prime Minister Levi Eshkol over the “Lavon Affair.”
Although Rafi’s attitude toward the main right-wing party Gahal (Herut-Liberals Bloc) was not defined during the election campaign, it subsequently became clearer when contacts emerged between the leadership of both parties concerning a future coalition in several cities. Considering Ben-Gurion’s previous attitude toward Menachem Begin and his famous saying, when prime minister, “without Herut and without Maki [the Communist Party]),” this cooperation was surprising.
The most signifcant coalition between Rafi and Gahal was in the Jerusalem municipality where Teddy Kollek from Rafi became mayor and one of his deputies was a member of Gahal. The new coalition and cooperation between these two opposition parties in the new Knesset broke Ben-Gurion’s old taboo.
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