History of the Third Knesset

The campaign, which was executed in cooperation with France and Britain, was preceded by many infiltrations of "fedayeen" from the Gaza Strip into Israel and a major arms deal between Egypt and Czechoslovakia. After failing to be invited to the Bandung Conference for non-aligned states, Israel made major efforts to establish diplomatic and economic relations with the African countries that started gaining independence in this period.

Members of the House Committee in the 3rd Knesset: In the center, the chairman of the committee, Baruch Azaniah, June 1959.

The changing of guards: Outgoing Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett, chatting with incoming Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion.

Amongst the many events that occurred during the term of the third Knesset and came up for debate were: the shooting down of an "El Al" plane in the air-space of Bulgaria on 27 July, 1955 - an event in which 58 persons found their death;

The Kfar Kassem affair on 29 October, 1956, in which 49 inhabitants of the village were shot to death by soldiers from a border police unit on the eve of the outbreak of the Sinai Campaign, after they had broken a curfew of the existence of which they were not aware;
The violent strike of the "Ata" textile factory workers, which broke out on 10 May, 1957; and the first violent outbreak in Israel against an ethnic background - the Wadi Salib riots in Haifa, on 9 May, 1959.

The doorway to Africa: Foreign Minister Golda Meir with the Minister of Trade and Industry from Ghana, August 1957.

As in the past the religious parties frequently raised the issue of the non-observance of the Sabbath in the State of Israel, and MKs from Maki rasied questions on the issue of the military administration to which the Arab citizens of Israel were still subject in this period.

On 29 October, 1957, a dramatic event took place in the Knesset, when a mentally disturbed man, whose motives were not clear, threw a hand grenade into the plenum, which wounded Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and several ministers.

The Sinai Operation: Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan visiting his soldiers in the Sinai, 6.11.1956.

The Main Events and Issues During the Third Knesset