Editing Levi Eshkol (section)

===Party chairmanship===
[[File:2 - EshkolBenGurion.jpg|thumb|Eshkol and Ben-Gurion, June 1963]]
During his term as finance minister, Eshkol established himself as a prominent figure in Mapai's leadership, and was designated by Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] as his successor.

When Ben-Gurion resigned in June 1963, Eshkol was elected party chairman with a broad consensus and was subsequently appointed prime minister. However, his relationship with Ben-Gurion soon turned acrimonious over the latter's insistence on investigating the [[Lavon Affair]], an Israeli covert operation in [[Egypt]], which had gone wrong a decade earlier. Ben-Gurion was unsuccessful in challenging Eshkol's leadership in the [[1965 Mapai leadership election]] and split from Mapai with a few of his young protégés to form [[Rafi (political party)|Rafi]] in June 1965. In the meantime, Mapai merged with [[Ahdut HaAvoda]] to form the [[Alignment (political party)|Alignment]] with Eshkol as its head. Rafi was defeated by the Alignment in the [[1965 Israeli legislative election|elections]] held in November 1965, establishing Eshkol as the country's indisputable leader. Yet Ben-Gurion, drawing on his influence as Israel's founding father, continued to undermine Eshkol's authority throughout his term as prime minister, portraying him as a spineless politician incapable of addressing Israel's security predicament.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}

As party chairman, Eshkol formed the basis for the [[Alignment (Israel)|Alignment]] in 1964, the formation of the unified [[Israel Labor Party]] in 1968 and the joining of forces with [[Mapam]] to create the second alignment in 1969.