ABSTRACT
The elections to the 11th Knesset in July 1984 led to a stalemate between the two major political blocs and, in turn, to the establishment of the National Unity government. Henceforth, the Likud had to share the spoils of office not only with its parliamentary allies but also with the rival Labour Party. Not surprisingly, even this partial changeover of power had a crucial influence on the stigma contests between the opposing camps. The controversy about the war in Lebanon subsided, the debate concerning the past became much more limited in scope, and although the dispute regarding the government’s causal responsibility for the violence of non-state actors continued, it did so in a different guise.
