The Conacflan Jewish News, Friday Jan. 1j3, 1961 - 3
By harry golden
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CIVIL & MILITARY IN ISRAEL
By YI^AL ALLON
WHERE YOU PAT is WHO YOU ARE
Fat man always pal their stomachs, Perhaps they are always dreaming of that next meal. An elderly man will always give you a little pinch between the elbow and the shoulder. Sometimes, however, the elderly will pat you on the head. Salesman always pat each other on_ the back. „ -
But t^ most amazing of all are the, athletes
workers "how" rather than' "why". Koreans experience in not being able to staff, its service industries and has not affected the planning for Africa where the same mistake is again repeated.
People have told me that college youth are loo yoimg and inexperienced to take their chance in the world. But if that is true, certainly they are too inexperienced" to take their chances with .Dostoevskr_and Shakespeare, which is precisely who alwa'ys pat each other on Jiie backside, what has happened^ Less people are studying Why this should be 1'cPo not know,. buT I do -the^fhumanities than_^ ever before. College has know that athletes are-absolutely uninhibited become a training place or dental assistaijgr about this. Watch-the line backer-the next time testers, and salesmen.
._you-see a football game and-he^will.pat-the Why all the fuss? Are we trying to disguise
General Allon is a former, member of the Knesset and former Chief of the Polmach.
History teaches us that the problem of the control of dcmo; cratic authorities oyer military ones is both a crucial" and uni^ yersal one; The fact that so many civilian governments have
bodj, The latter, in turn, took its decisions in full accord with the general ,pglicy« and direction of the Jewish Agency. _ -
PERMANENT UNIT CREATED
Arab success in achieving British abandonment of the in-ternational obligation to assist in the creation of a Jewish National
been 6vetthrown_by their armed j>r(>dominenHy Arab government
forces proves-that m spitp of the great progressfwhich- the"idea
tackles and the guards on the bacHside. And^ <^ertain™.profes^s; A car salesman keeps his of democracy has made during the--^emsktem. Impost upon
wat<;h a ball player strolling to the plate. He too gets patted on the backside. The same is true of six-day bige reacers, track stars, and soccer players, Welsh, Irish, American, English or Israeli.
WHY MUST EVERYBODY GO TO COLLEGE?
I wrote a coliunn on the absurdity of insisting on a college education for everyone and it has occasioned more mail and abuse than my column condemning birth control. The truth of the matter is that people neither listen nor see. First. I did not advocate abandoning college education, nor was I spiteful or jealous about the young people who are able to exploit an education for a career.
Let .me say now I believe that every boy or giri who wants to go to college should go. I believe that if they lack the money, their education should be financed by the Federal government. I believe everyone with the incentive and the talent should be guaranteed that their abilities and their faculties will be trained to fee utmost.
But, I do not believe everjbody has got to go to college.
It is a matter of statistical fact that during the 1920's, when a college degree became democratic and fashionable that for one college graduate there were 33 jobs. I believe today the ratio is exactly reversed. There are 33 college graduates battling for every job.
More and more college graduates are going to have to man the IBM machines, open ledgers and write accounts, and perhaps enter industry. They will be overtrained and probably bitter. Part of the bitterness is our fault. We told them m college degree was an open sesame.
The insistence that a college degree is a must substantially disturbed secondary education. Teachers tell me now the Insistence on high marks, the pressure exerted on children for.simple academic excellence, has led to cheating in the third grade. Rathier than encouraging education, the prospect of college has denied. The kids do not think of what they are reading, but how to get a good mark from reading it.
Everyone wants to join this elite of college graduates. But in truth the elite is too unwieldy to be realistic. You cant have an elite with 100,000,000 people and if there were an elite, it would be dangerous.
The danger of creating an elite group can be seen in the recent crisis in Korea, I, learn from Robert P. Van Tries, State Supervisor of Trade and Industrial Education for the State of Minnesota, that Institutions of higher learning were set up all over Korea and staffed to the exclusion of the training of skilled tradeiinen. Everybody in Korea is a chief; there are no Indians.
This is absurd. No society can exist with 111 medicinie men.
Korea, it has been remarked, needs a pipeline from the pool hall to the, factory, becau-se all the trained executive personel are not enough without people to nm the machines. That pipeline is not fed by coUeges but by schools that teach
job and supports his family not because he went to an Ivy League school but because he sells cars.
EARLY ADULTHOOD ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE
The Bar Mitzvahs which took place on the Lower East Side of New York City years ago not only made a 13-year-old boy a member of the congregation, but a male adult with all of the consequent responsibilities.
It could not help but do this, since the children on the Lower East Side were surround-
Hom«? and the banding over of^ws.
the existing Jewish cogimunity in Palestine to the mercy of a
under the leadership of Haj Amin, the Pro-Nazi ex-Mufli of
the
Twentieth century it is far froin, being secured. - '
What makes an armed body, which is created for great national and human services, i.e. for self-defence and security, a potential menace to its creator, i namely the state? It is rightly ; considered axiomatic that an armed body, which is permanently mobilised, has latent non-democratic and sometimes antidemocratic tendencies. Four un. •
Yishnv and Hagana new duties. Hagana's political importance was increased immensely by the
conducted within the framework of a mature democracy with full obedience by the military to. wards the civil authorities.
RESPONSIBLE TO CABINET
The estabUshed relationship between the state and its armed forces was subsequently reinforced by a series of decrees and
In-ihe Israel of today the post of Commander-iiPChief in tjie American sense does~not exist. The Chief oL_ General Staff.-holdings the modest ~rank of Major-General, commands all three armed services, which
The regular army is very small, being based on a minimum numlier of technicians and a skeletoii svaff nece.s,'5a:ry to train conscripts . and maintain alertness. Thr great majority of the armed forces- consists of re-servist.s, who are liable to be called up either for annual training or' military duties in case of emergency. The majority of the "other citizens are absorbed inco the—territorial and civil defence system. ~
The^ complete land encirclement of Israel, the lack of
By remaining on the reserve. they continue to be of military use and to' have the satisfaction of participating in the defence of the country.
Had this ariicle been published before the so-called Lavoh Affair canle into the open, it might have sounded moire convincing. Today people everywhere ^ai'e cjuestioning whether, after all, the shining metal i,s really made, ot gold;
STRUGGLE FORT POWER
While the iigiy intrigue against -
strategic d<'pth«.and the shortage | the former Minister of-Dtfence, of manpower, dictate that IsratTjMr. Eavon. mu.^t bp condemned, has Keen turned into a foriificd ' u should not be regarded as
spares us from infamous inter. | country and its people into an normal praciice in Israel. But service rivalry. He is responsible i armed nation. In other words.
A SCENE IN ISRAE'/S PARL»AM»=NT
ed by adults. Children today are surrounded by adults, but there is this difference: there was , avoidable factors lie behind this: no special or unique world for the East Side J the mere physical strength at boy. There were ho Bo Diddley teenage jazz ; the direct command of a few concerts, no Bobby Darrin cliques, no special senior officers; ihe natural im
teen-age movies. There was one world: the adult world with all its pain and happiness and if:
maturity of a large number of the conscripts; the stimulation
the child wanted social contact and love, that which armament gives to a sense
was the world in which he achieved it.
The same was true of the Irish and the Italians on the West Side and in Little Italy. The boys were never children really. They were expected to w,ant to work and to contribute to the family fortunes and aspirations. College and an education -were always privileges, not guarantees.
of strength; and the simplified inclination ot men of action to .solve complicated political and social problems through decisive operation. These are universal permanent phenomena which necessitate great care. A great deal depends on the kind of
The East Side boy wanted working papers constitution, quality of tradition.
as soon as he could pronounce the words; the East Side girl was immediately impressed as a surrogate mother.
I think this made it a better world for children.
It did not necessarily make better humans out of them, but all children must enter the adult world sooner or later; the world where you don't get everj-thing you want; where there
social structure, standard of education, and effectiveness of control prevailing in specific countries. ,
new duty of dealing with the inevitable clash arising from CREATION OF HAGANAH ' Britains discriminatory "White
i Paper" policy. The Second Worid War added another duiy of a political nature contribution to
iliese things happen unfortunately, t!ven in the oldest demo-cracie.s, as was illustrated by .Ho;'2.S;liSN".¥ resignation at the IjEglnj-.:g of tile Second World Vv':.r. Lr.voii hinibv'f reijealc-liy dcc'l.'ved thai his HL'CUsalion ^ .i.'? nci direcicd aaiun.si the army as an orr,;;n;si'd bcoy, but ,n°ai.:^t ii'gh-:: :il::nu; individuals. He nir.dc it cicar that h-- so-called -blunder" \";;s UH2d dgWberalely as pretext to secure his removal. The affair was investi-gr.tsd. tliough with some unjustified delay by the proper authorities. According to the findings, of the Cabinet inquiry committee and the Attorney General, one of two people may be charged on disciplinary grounds wliich. though very "serious, have no constitutional significance.
It is a pity that the struggle for power, still continuing,
In the Front Row: Mrs. Goldo Meir, Foreign Minister. Second Row: Abba Ebon and among mdividuais within an im
I portaiit party has made it appear as though the armed services were partially involved. The
Moshe Doyan.
RECALLED
,vu u.... gc. .vcjunuK y«u w.,«re u,«re , For many centuries the Jews
are such things as vain toil, crushing disappoint- , naUon. be.^^^ t^.^t^^t fon^ Th7e tabSl^ of the PaN ments. stern and fierce competition, pi-aise and \ ^'^te of their own. were not con-blame. The earlier a child partakes in that ' cerned with this problem. There-world, 'he better adapted he is to survive its : fore not much , thinking and defeats and challengers and riiake a place that i wriUng were devoted to it in our is his own. i history. On the other hand the
The teen-age bOy who approaches you today ! philosophy and practice of civiL and asks with a touch of hostility in his voice, ^ niililary relations has a longer "Do you Hke Elvis Presley?" fully expecting hi.story thatn the State of Israel.
mach in 1941 provided Hagana with B permanent mobilised unit for the first time.
All these developments intensified the practice of well established civil-military relations in a seml^utonomous civil com-
you to say no is always surpri.sed when you: Already at the turn of the|munity with a governmental
say. "Ye.s, Elvis Presley is all right." He has century the eariy Zionist settlers to content himself with the jealous, "How dare in Ottoman Palestine were you like my Elris Presley." ' engaged in mihtary self-defence
His parents are letting him kid hnn.self. His ' against raiders who forced them first boss won't indulge the question, and the : to create the nucleus of a small Army, if he has to serve, has no opinion on | armed body, consisting of the subject. Teen-agers are in a constant flux i anned citizens and full-time of readjusting values and for the most part ' watchmen operating under the this is because We do not let them enter the control of local and municipal adult world and press ' responsibilities upon i elected authorities, who appoint-them. That they survive the drag races, the bad ' " " music, the rumbles, the endemic bad taste, of their contemporaries, and the sometimes tra- great fight for TeLChai and gic love affairs, is a minor social phenomenon, i Northern Galilep took place—the It is no coincidence that the .\nglo-Calvinist [ batUe which saved the area worid. inheritors of the Judaic ethic, shared the tradition of early adulthood. Englishmen put a topper and tails on a 13-year-oId when they send him off to the prep school.
If you expect a boy to be a man. the sooner you let him start practising the belter.
(Copyright by Horry Golden and the Conodion Jewish News)
ed the cornmanders. Forty one years ago, when the
HUMAN RELATIONS~r~=ii;Hi==~i~~
A Family Ritual
QUESTION: My daughter, 17 ond o college •hidcht, it very bright and in some ways quite mature for' h«r oge. When she wo$ a young child, •vsry timt she went to my mother's house • from ■cheol, my mother would give her a quarter.
Recently, her program in college hds been so arranged that on one day she has two consecutive free hours. As my mother lives within a reasonable distance from the college and dosen't go out of t(|e house much lately, my daughter uses this time to visit her grandmother. When she leaves, my mother still gives her a quarter.
At first I didn't want to soy anything to my mother because she upsets easily. But when an occasion arose, I told her that mydaughter visits her now as on adult and she ought not to treat her like o small child. My mother became excited and said I was trying to dlienote my daughter from her. I dropped the subject, but am quite upset.
ANSWER: Parents, os often os grandparents, ' maintoln certoin rituals in their relationship with the children In the family. These may hove hod meaning for them oil when the children were little end ore carried. on Into the .children's adulthood. , ... .The mother may save o partjculor cut of trieat for Her son, or always moke" her daughter's favorite oessert whenever she comes to dinner. By rernem-bering ond repeotlhg this act of mindfulness, the mother feels she is continulhg the pattern of loving constderatiori. Such monifestot.ions can have o deep
-symbolic-significonce for-the porticigants.
What they cannot say in words how, any more'
Jhon they could yeors-ago, they can_still-say through_; the old rltual5_i>f giving, receiving and appreciating. For sortie'people, especially older bries, maintaining .
■such o rituol may_'be'a woy of feeling aliyje=.:an(J young, like When thejploy-acting was first started..
Your onhoyance^=with your mother's Jittle by^ ploy has been going ■ on for many years. It is only now, when your daughter hos grown;-thot you feel free fo use her age as a sp.ringbpord to. criticize yout.mothar. In former days, you rrioy have felt
^=i=i=~=iH==i DR. ROSE N. FRANZBLAU
that the quarter was a bribe to get your daughter to go ond see her grondmofher.
Apparently your dauahter visits her grandmother, whenever she is able, of her own free will and accord; She seems to do so from a' feeling of love, rather than from a sense of obliaation, for she does not-hove to be reminded or prodded.
■ However, if she is annoyed with the handout and reports her anhoyonce to you instead, of handling It herself, then, .to this degree, she Is
There is, .always the possibility that your daughter tells you about her grandmother with humor and good, uriderstonding,. but. that you, against her wishes, use the information as d means of telling your mother off. Your objection to your mother's act is that It mokes your daughter feel like o little child at 17. But your defense of Her to your mother is mLich more belittling than the quarter her grandrhother gives her. . .
Fighting your daughter's battle for her suggests an inability on her port to stand up for herself. It also reports publicly thot she; Informs on and criticizes people behind their, backs, tf she reacts with wdrnnth and love to her grandmother when she is with her, it would be hard for your mother to accept that she; talks against her when 'owoy from her. It Is easier to occusis you of creating the fuss out of jealousy andithe wish to allenote . one :from the other. ;
— The.trenjI aiid-develdpment of your daughter's
mqturity has been defermiried by whot you, her parents, have done _for her. _^ . _^.
To make d big Tuss or tb=Tight^ witK"yoiK mother over something' as small and unimportont^as this, cpujd weaken the security she.gets from her close ond loving family. . ^ -
—Vdui- daughter, who is^l.d enough 4o- go to college and'to. plan so Well, is-old,eriough ttThondle this situation With her. grandmother. She redlly needs no one to fight her battles for her-'and itcan really hurt to hove the two pdrent figures fight over-her.
QUESTION: My brother is getting married in January. The bride's family is having a viary large wedding. My parents were given the right to an unlimited guest list.. They intend to invite my husband's sister and her husband although th^y hove never cared for them too much.
i When I got married there were bod/teelings on my in-low's side. f
But since then they have been better to us than my own family. Wo love them dearly. ond are very happy to have them. However, my father-in- low is disliked because he is very critical and has •'big mouth. .He argues W'th bnyonj, ot anf^
time, about anything. We've had some embarrassing incidents with him. I don't think it would be foir h> my brother to invite my foitheriin-low. My folks say it's up to my husband and, me. Also
swe may invite some close friends rf we want to. >^ Couldn't I invite my .sister-in-law and brothe-in-law OS friends? They ore better than any friends w^ could have. Thus we!.con omit my father-in-law.
lives with them, r wont this wedding to J^e os; happy as possible for my brother. I don't want
^ii spoil it iri any woy.
> (Continued on Page 8)
from being ' armexed to the French mandate over Syria and Lebanon and excluded from the legitimate Zionist activity of turning .Palestine into a Jewish National Home—a revolutionary change in the military, as well as the political, organisation took place. That momentus year witnessed, among other historic events, the creation of Hagana as a cbuntrywide military organisation, operating vmderground and undertaking the defence of the Jewish community against successive Arab riots of a nationalistic character.
It was then that the civil-military relations took shape on a national scale. The Zionist Executive, acting as the executive branch of the democratically elected Actions Committee and World Zionist Congress, was in full control of Hagana. Since national institutions were officially recognised by the Mandatory Power as well as by the League of Nations, they could not permit themselves to eri-danger their vital international -status by dealing directly with an underground military organisation. On the other hand, the civil . authorities wisely . would not concede aiitonSmous status tc ''agana's General Staff. A civil High Command was therefore secretly appbintied. by the Jewish Agency. It consisted of worthy, representatives . of the' political parties, and its chairman acted as Commander-in-Chief of the forc^ of Hagana, which was basically^a vbrtiiitary organisation. The general Staff and-lts Cjilef were subordinatedl toltiie, High^^mmMMlL and its^ strategic - and tactical- matters
Chief. Every important decision had _to be-approved by Uhe-clvil
"machine" that might have belonged to an independent state. It was only natural that such a "machine", being responsible for the absorption of immigrants, building up of settlements and towns, development of agriculture, industry and commerce, the education and health services of its members, with a special political department for foreign relations, should iJe capable also of maintaining complete control over its armed orgaiiisations. Even when Hagana expanded and dispatched emissaries to many countries, control of the scattered military units remained in the hands of the civil authorities,
DEFENSE ARMY CREATED
Kven during the difficult perio^ of anti-British resistance, when dissatisfaction, owing to what appeaired as lack of finnness or the part of the Zionist leaders frequently embittered many Hagana members, Hagana subordination to the civil authorities was never questioned. The imfortunate phenomenon of the existence of. two small terrorist crganistions does not prove the contrary. Because these separatist prompt -broke the unity of the Jewish front, Hagana provided a spiritual, and physical protection ■ for the democratic principles and practice of the Zionist movement in general, and the Yishuv in particular.
The relatively smooth trans-formation .from a Yishuv into a State, from voluntarily elected political institutions. into a government, which took place in May 1948, as weiras the transformation of the Hagana, a few weeks later, into Israel's. Defence Annyi was due to basic democratic aiid .social ideas backed by a Jong and deeply rooted traoition. The change was. of a legalistic rather than strujitural and functional, nature. 'There were, naturally, differences, of opinion Eoncemlng" certain aspects-trf^the^miljtary features, and even -greater—debates' on
to the Cabinet, which is based, on collective responsibility.
Israel is maintaining a Citizens ^^^^ ^^^.^ ^^^.^^^^ ^ .'Vrmy. One may thmk that this; .^j^ through the Mim.ster of Security. ; might implant militaristic ideas | jroversv The army, although Moreover, a special ministerial into the public mind rather than | j^^, ^ faultless body, is faithful
committee, based on the principle s<Tve as a civil check on military of coalition Government, serves I inclinations, but this is far from
as a more specific agency for the shaping of foreign and defence matters.
The Foreign Relations and Security Committee consists of coalition and opposition members-Owing to the different system of government, it is not as powerful as its American Congressional counte'rpart, but it Is strong enough, as an advisory body making recommendations, to serve as a check to undesirable trends within the armed services. The State Comptroller has free access to the different branches of the defence organisation with due rights to publicise his criticism.
The Press, in spite of being censored over strictly confidential security problems (though the cencorship is sometimes misused by the hidden authority behind the censor devotes a great deal of attention to defence problems in general and to armed forces in particular. In some cases ini-provemenis have been brought about by Press criticism. It may be said, therefore, that civil and political control over the military machine is firmly established from the constitutional as well as practical points of view.
FORTIFIED COUNTRY
There are other safeguards, but this should not arouse any suspicions against the Israel Defence forces, which have'a splendid record.
being so. The universal par. ticipation of the citizens in the defence system of th^^untry is increasing the posjffiK^ security conscience. It servtC^ in fact, as a tremendous factor in civilising :—so to speak—the troops, rather than militarising the people. In Israel a Citizen's Army is the only effective safeguard for her secnrity^ If an adventurer thought of seizing power by military means it would certainly lead to civil war in an armed, politically conscious society «uch as ours.
The type of officer recruited in Israel is a great factor in guaranteeing proper civil-military relations. They are recruited from .all classes, many of them come from the working-class, including members of kibbutzim and moshavim. They do not comprise a clique or pressure group, and participate in the social and cultural life of the general community. As intelligent people they are politically minded, belonging to different democratic parties, though not active in party politics.
Most of them do not see themselves as lifetime professional soldiers. They look upon their service as a mission rather than a profession. While serving, they are being prepared for re. entry Into civilian life, and ex-officers do not, , therefore, create a problem in society. They can be foimd in all spheres of life while they are still young.
and obedient to its master—the people of Israel and their elected institutions.
On the other hand, Lavon's resignation five years ago shows that the pattern of relatlonsWp between the Minister of Defence and his subordinates, whether civilian or military, should be tailored to ' suit every possible Minister and not fitted chiefly to Mr, Ben-Gurioh's special kind of National Security Council, in an advisory capacity, consisting of prominent personalities (officials as well as non-offlcials), to assist the respective agencies in the shaping of security affairs. It would also be worthwhile considering the possibility of transfering certain economic and diplomatic functions from the Ministry of Defence to ,say, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Transport and Labour. ■ Quite obviously we cannot yet do without armaments. In Israel's unique situation armed forces are Indispensable. Their maintenance should be consider^ ed, therefore, as an evil necessity. But the formation of a Citizen's Army within the framework of a democratic society Is the least evil. Without ignoring grave defects one can safely assert that Israel possesses a firm democracy among the existmg Imperfect democracies of the wdrld.
(Copyright by The Conadion Jewish News & Jewistv, Chronicle Feature "NewA? Service)
DATELINE: ISRAEL
By Carl Alpert
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between military experts and polltidansr^ut they .^e : alh
Keep S mil lag
PLAY GOLF?
Isn't it great to get out on the old golf course again and lie In the sun? .
INTERPRETATION
Mistress: "Marie, when you wait on the table tonight for my guests, please don't spill anything.", ■ :
Maid:.- "Don't .worry, ma'am; I.never talk much."
MUSICIANS: Peter Duchiii. the Jazz pianist, met Isaac Stem the other night, rjn^chln said he just received a union bard and also had| moved into an . apartment in CnrneBie Hall. "As presi-
dent of' Carnegie Hall," replied the violinist, who is president of Carnegie Hall, "I welcome you and ask only two thitigs-rpay your rent on time and keep your piano tuned."
DEDICATION: A visitor at br. Albert Schweitzer's|^hospital in the. African'jungle asked him why such .aiv eminent maiV preferred to work there, rather, than write some papers about it land raise the money for the project. Schweitzer, replied by quoting Goethe: "In the be^nning is The Deed." He Isaid all men ought to do the Deed, no matter how small, first., .
.II:-.-- V . ,•,..,■//
HAIFA — There is an important lessoii to be learned from Israel's atomic bomb scare story, though whether the authorities concerned will learn the lesson, is something else. The point. is that censorship ,can: often do more harm than good. \ An ironclad censorship Is pos-.Pible only In a dictatorship, whether of the right or the left, since there is none to challeiige it. In a democracy, however, and this is one of'the prices, of democracy, tbere is always an opposition element which acts as a check on the powers oLthe administration Under these -circumstances, any unjustified censorhlp is iney-Itably-bound to be'exposed, with consequences far niore harmfuj^ than if-the banned story had beery pennitted to appear origfaially. . .'Censorship, ostensibly jor security reasons, .operates m Israel. The local press is subject to censor's scrutiny before It appears, aiid a morning paper will sometimes appear with words, sentences br even whole paragraphs j|tmudged but" at the fast mc nent; (Jorrespondents for overseas papers are expected to chaimel their dispatches through thie; censor, though wh6n a truly big ktory breaks; such corespondents have been .known to fly to nearby Cyprus, from whence they: can dispatch a full and uncensor. ed account.
During the ' Slnal • campaign, miich of Israel's bad public relations Overseas was due to thesup-presslon of information at this end, 'Pie ii^iiiiai neiratlve; attitude
toward Israel which was created i when the exaggerated story final-
In many circles was never fully overcome.. It. is not impossible that the . p'o 1 I t i c a'l setback Israel experienced thereafter, .offsetting the victory on the battlefield, was attributable
iy burst, Israel, was made to appear as something of a villain. The political repercu.ssions. too. have been unfavorable.
Security is a broad word, and can cover considerable ground.
directly to the censorship pro; j por the last iiionth and a"" half a
gram.
The; Lavoh affair has exposed the ludicrousness of Israel's censorship. The . basic 1954 Incident may be, referred to in the local press only as a "security mishap" or as "that unfortunate incident". -Newspapers iii otlifit- countries have had a field day, and all sorts of garbled, exaggerated acr counts have^appeared, presuming to be true stories of-whal"" had really happgned. Tljigir readers belleve_these .''^tSrles, .some of ^thenrmo doubt, worserthan the
■truthir ■„.■■; -
Furtherr these' newspapers am freely sold on Israel newsstands, and pass from hand to hand in Tel. Aviv arid Jerusalem. The censorship is transformed into a joke. '
The suppression of news about Israel's atorhic reactor was bound to fail because of the very nature of. the operation. The installation was hot being built in the desert wilds of. Sibe;ria, but near-a,^well-traveiled road, hundreds 6f work-, men were injfolved, and they frequented th^ streets and cafes of nearby Beershefea. What Ame. ricanl intelligence agents apparently "discovered" only .recehlly, has been open knowledge in the Negev city for a long time. Yet the censorship remained, and
distinguished, professor of physics has been facing trial in a Haifa , courtroom on charges of unauthorized, contact with foreign agiiiits,. and the- conveying to such agents' of.. . mformation likely to harm the defence of the state. .More than thai "the public jdoes not^, know. Dejails-ofnhe charges^gainst~him have never
been revealed, and the trial has beeh: conducted behind closed doors— in a jnanner most unpleasantly reminiscent of-judicial ■ proceedings in non-democratic countriesr" ■ —
Two and a half - years ago a promlniBnt-^eader of one of—t-he smaller political parties was arrested on like charges^never/' fully specified. He is out on bail,, and the charges still hanl^ over his head.
Such incidents cati only lead the Israeli citizen, and his friends abroad, to wonder how . many more such cases there may. ■ be, which have still, not burst out of the secrecy imposed upon ' them■
, 'censorship is a dangerous, two-edged weapon, not to be used lightly and indiscriminately. Its operation in Israel should h» subjected to serioui. recoiu sideraUon. ,,
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