person who sits next to M. K. Badar", and boycotting his Knesset speeches. Ben-Gurion's policy of ostracising Revisionism was performed systematically, as seen in the legal exclusion of fallen Irgun and Lehi fighters from public commemoration and from benefits to their families. Herut members were excluded from the highest bureaucratic and military positions. Decline In the municipal elections of 1950, Herut lost voters to the centrist General Zionists, who also attracted disillusioned voters from Mapai and established themselves as a tough opposition rival to Herut. At the second national convention, Begin was challenged by more radical elements of his party. They wanted a more dynamic leadership, and thought he had adapted himself to the system. At the convention, Begin's proposal to send children abroad for security reasons, although there was a precedent for such a measure, sounded defeatist, and it was unanimously rejected. It was considered to have hurt the party's image. In March 1951, Herut lost two of its Knesset seats, with the defection of Ari Jabotinsky and Hillel Kook from the party to sit as independent MKs. Referring to previous written commitments, the party sought to revoke their Knesset membership, but the issue was still not settled by the next election three months later. Critics of the party leadership pointed out that the party had changed and lost its status as a radical avant-garde party. Uncompromising candidates had been removed from the party list for the upcoming elections, economic questions loomed large in the propaganda, and Mapai had co-opted some of the Herut agenda, not least by declaring Jerusalem as Israel's capital. These critics and outside commentators thought that Herut seemed irrelevant. In the 1951 elections, Herut won eight seats, six less than previously. Begin resigned as leader, a move he had considered before the election because of the internal criticism. He was replaced by Aryeh Ben-Eliezer, whose leadership was nipped in the bud when he suffered a heart attack in late 1951. Ya'akov Rubin became party chairman in his stead. As a young party without institutions paralleling those of Mapai, who were predominant in most areas of social life, Herut was at a serious disadvantage. Its leaders were politically inexperienced and clung to the principle of not – as representatives of the entire nation – accepting financial support from any interest groups. They were prevented from building a strong and competent party structure because of this. Begin's