Two Journalists Accuse Yadin of Smuggling Foreign Currency out of Israel; Yadin Files Libel Suits

Uri Avneri, editor of Haolem Hazeh, and reporter Yigal Laviv, this week for the second consecutive week ran stories in the popular news weekly that Prof. Yigal Yadin, head of the Democratic Movement for Change, has smuggled foreign currency out of the country. They charged that Yadin was involved in a foreign currency and antiques export scandal in 1972.

Last week. Haolem Hazeh charged that the noted archaeologist had sold antiques to an American bank without the proper export license and without paying the necessary taxes. Laviv has also submitted an official complaint against Yadin to the police. Yadin, who filed a libel suit against the two journalists last week, filed another one this week.

Immediately after the original story was published, Yadin said that the antiques in question were exported by a Jerusalem antique dealer, after he had paid the necessary taxes. The exported antiques were part of a collection owned by David Rowen in the United States. A $6000 check which arrived to the order of the Archaeological Institute at the Hebrew University at the time Yadin was its head, was endorsed to the order of the Jerusalem dealer, who deposited it in a local bank.

NO BREACH OF LAW SEEN

The Ministry of Education and Culture, which is in charge of antiquities, said there was no breach of law in this transaction.

But at a press conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday. Avneri insisted that even Yadin’s own version of the story meant a violation of the law. Yadin was not authorized to transfer the check to another Israeli citizen, but had to deposit it immediately in a local bank, Avneri charged.

“Furthermore,” said Laviv, “this check turned up in the U.S. again, which means that Yadin is guilty of an illegal transaction in foreign currency. The penalty for smuggling $6000 is a fine of $18,000 and a three-year jail sentence,” Laviv said.

SAYS IT IS PURE LIBEL

Following the press conference by Haolem Hazeh, Yadin issued the following statement to the press: “Avneri’s and Laviv’s accusation that I smuggled foreign currency is pure libel. Both publicized this lie although they know full well that the check in question was deposited in a Jerusalem bank on December 25, 1972. The reverse side of the check was stamped both by the Hebrew University and by the Discount Bank.”

Yadin also showed the press photocopies of the check and of a receipt from the Discount Bank in Jerusalem showing that the check had been duly deposited according to law. The photocopies also showed that the check was not made out to Yadin at all, but only to the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology.

At the press conference Avneri insisted that the charge had no connection with the political rivalry between his Sheli list and Yadin’s movement. He said he would try to speed up legal steps against Yadin because otherwise he might be elected to the Knesset and enjoy parliamentary immunity. Yadin countered by instructing his attorneys to see that Avneri is brought to trial at the earliest, so that he would not escape justice either.