Lavon (Lubianiker), Pinchas

(1904–76)

   Israel labour leader. Lavon was born in Galicia and was one of the early organizers of the Gordonia youth movement, founded in 1923. He settled in Palestine in 1929 and became a leading figure in Mapai and the Histadrut, a member of the Knesset from 1949– 61, minister of agriculture 1950–2, and minister of defence 1953–5. In the latter post Lavon became the centre of the greatest internal political dispute Israel has had, known to this day simply as ‘The Affair’ (ha-parashah). In 1954 an Israel secret service operation in Egypt came to grief, and the group involved was arrested. Lavon resigned on this ‘security mishap’, even though he asserted that the operation had been ordered by a senior army officer without his knowledge. In 1960 fresh evidence came to light. Lavon demanded public clearance, and was exonerated by a ministerial committee whose conclusions BEN-GURION as premier refused to accept, demanding a judicial enquiry. Lavon was forced by a party decision to give up his post as secretary-general of the Histadrut. During the nation-wide turmoil the issues widened from the original question of ‘who gave the order?’ to a confrontation between different groups and different political philosophies within Mapai. The integrity of the army was also involved. Mapai split temporarily; the Ben-Gurionists left to form a new party, Rafi, but all its members except Ben-Gurion himself later returned to Mapai. For some years, Lavon led a small ideological group called Min ha- Yesod (‘From the Foundation’) that campaigned for a revival of the earlier pioneering ideals of the labour movement, which he considered had become too pragmatic.