Israel. On May 17, 1977, legislative elections were held in Israel to elect the ninth Knesset. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing party, led by the Likud, won a plurality of seats, ending nearly 30 years of rule by the Left Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai. The dramatic shift in Israeli politics brought about by the result led the event to become known as “the revolution” (HaMahapakh), a phrase coined by television host Haim Yavin when he announced the election results live on television with the words, “Ladies and gentlemen: a revolution!” The elections marked the beginning of a period lasting nearly two decades in which the left- and right-wing blocs held roughly equal numbers of Knesset seats.
