Ben-Gurion began the year by going on holiday and leaving an unsent letter of resignation. He had reacted strongly to the exoneration of Pinhas Lavon by the cabinet, based on the unanimous findings of a ministerial committee that the former defence minister’s instructions in 1954 had been forged. Ben-Gurion demanded a reversal of the ministerial committee’s decision, the resignation of Lavon as secretary-general of the Histadrut and a further judicial inquiry. Abba Eban and Moshe Dayan supported Ben-Gurion, while Golda Meir, Pinhas Sapir and Levi Eshkol were loath to reverse a cabinet vote. A twelve-hour meeting of the Mapai secretariat ended in total deadlock at 4 a.m.