Begin survives vote of no confidence

December 4, 1981

Prime Minister Menachem Begin's government survived a no-confidence vote in the Knesset (parliament) Wednesday night, brushing aside charges that its new strategic security pact with the United States endangered Israel.

Four Cabinet ministers rushed home from trips abroad to enable the government to defeat, 57 to 53, the no-confidence motions. The opposition charged during a stormy debate that the pact jeopardized Israel because it named the Soviet Union as a potential enemy.