Mamlakhtiyut, Education and Religion in the Struggle over the Mass Immigration

The replacement of the fragmented education system of party-controlled “streams” with a unified system of state education was a central goal of David Ben-Gurion's mamlakhtiyut (statism). But in his attempt to realize this goal Ben-Gurion had to overcome the strong opposition of the loyalists of the streams, who formed a powerful coalition that was supported by a majority of Knesset members. For this purpose Ben-Gurion took advantage of the fierce competition between the streams over the education of the children who came during the period of the mass immigration in the early years of independence. He pursued a deliberate policy of exacerbating the crisis to the point that even advocates of the stream system realized that it had become a severe threat to national unity and political stability as well as to vital interests of the parties involved.