The Goldmann-nasser Incident Continues to Have Its Reverberation in Israel

The Goldmann affair is still having reverberations here. The government continues to justify its veto of a proposed Cairo meeting between Dr. Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, and President Gamal Abdel Nasser, of Egypt. Apparently stung by criticism that it may have missed a chance, however small, to open contacts with the Arabs, the government is trying to discredit Dr. Goldmann. Officials here say that be mislead Premier Golda Meir and her Cabinet and accuse the veteran Zionist leader of “raising false hopes” here and abroad. At a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive yesterday, some members wanted to read Dr. Goldmann out of the Zionist movement because of views he expressed in recent articles in Foreign Affairs Quarterly and the Israeli daily, Haaretz.

Joseph Klarman contended that with the Foreign Affairs article, advocating neutralized Israel guaranteed by the world community, Dr. Goldmann “put himself outside the Zionist camp.” Some members criticized the government’s handling of the affair. Acting chairman Leon Dulczin sought to remove any “official” image from the discussion and said it was only an exchange of views. He said the issue would be tackled again, presumably when Agency chairman, Arye L. Pincus and Zionist Council chairman Ehud Avriel are present. (The Christian Science Monitor said in an editorial today, “Of course such (Goldmann’s) thinking is heresy to the present political establishment in Israel–which is why they are trying to disparage both Dr. Goldmann and his proposals.” “But for all the Israeli government’s efforts in this direction, there have been protest demonstrations in support of Dr. Goldmann. Further, a Haaretz poll showed 63 percent of public opinion thought the government wrong to veto a Goldmann-Nasser meeting. Could it be that the government was?” the Monitor asked.)