Rabin to face first poll

Press, 25 February 1977, Page 7

Rabin to face first poll

By Arthur Max, of Associa t e d Press, through NZPA Tel Aviv ’ Mr Yitzhak Rabin, nomin’ated yesterday by his ruling Labour Party to stand for re-election as Prime Minister will face the electorate on May 17 with a spotty record ranging from the brilliant Entebbe raid to a failing economy with 38 per cent inflation.

Although he has been head of the Government since June, 1974, it will be the first time that Mr Rabin, who is 54, stands in a national election He was named Mrs Golda Meir’s successor by his party after Mrs Meir’s sudden mid-term retirement.

Critics call him lack-1 lustre, and the loose hold he, has on his own party was' shown by the strong” chai-| lenge he faced from the Defence Minister (Mr Shimon Peres) for the nomination. It was the first time an incumbent had been threatened from within the Labour party. A slow, stumbling speaker, Mr • Rabin spent most of his life in uniform, including leading the Israel Army to a six-day victory lover the combined forces of ; Egypt, Svria, and Jordan in 1967. The critics also call him : quarrelsome. As ambassador in-; ■ Washington for five years he! fought constantly with his | boss, the former foreign minister Mr Abba Ehan. I As Prime Minister, he had public battles with Mr Peres that often shocked the country. But Mr Rabin quickly .learned the art of politics, becoming Prime Minister only three months after returning from Washington and entering the Government. Mr Rabin proved his political astuteness when he: ■ engineered the fall of his ' own Government in DecemIber, precipitating an early! ! election. Many experts believe that: ■the move was designed to! stunt the growth of a new! Centre-Left movement that, .threatened Labour’s tradi-i ‘ tional political domination. He reached the peak of his popularity last July | when airborne Israeli commandos flew to Uganda to pluck 105 hostages, most of them Israelis, from the, hands of Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe Airport,' (Uganda.