1977 Israeli legislative election election saw the beginning of a period lasting almost two decades where the left- and right-wing blocs held roughly equal numbers of seats in the Knesset. Voter turnout was 79.2%. The Alignment was re-elected in December 1973, following the Yom Kippur War, but continued in-fighting and investigation into Israel's preparedness led to the resignations of Prime Minister Golda Meir and Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan the following April. This led to a power struggle between former Chief of Staff and Ambassador to the United States Yitzhak Rabin and Transportation minister Shimon Peres. Rabin was elected by the party by a
Service Book (Yitzhak Rabin) from reading the book in draft form, on the eve of its publication. Rabin was especially angry about the leaks from Peres and his associates to the press, at Rabin's first tenure as Prime Minister. Peres referred to the book as "a typo in Israeli politics". Rabin's critics claim, in addition to the harsh tone, that there are many inaccuracies, showing, if anything, the perception of reality by Rabin, but not historical facts. For example, historian Michael Bar-Zohar (considered a supporter of Shimon Peres) said that "the chapters in which [Rabin] talks about Operation Entebbe, he simply wrote things that