Premier Menachem Begin delivered an election campaign blast here last night but his main target was not the Labor Alignment opposition but Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany and President Valery Giscard d’Estaing of France. He denounced them both as greedy hypocrites, presumably because of their Middle East policies generally and their willingness to sell sophisticated weapons systems to Israel’s Arab foes.
Addressing the central committee of his Herut Party, Begin’s “impressive display of oratorical fireworks”–as one local newspaper put it–constituted what observers said was probably the strongest attack ever by an Israeli government leader on the leaders of two of the principal Western European powers. He charged that they were interested only in selling weapons to the Arabs at the highest possible price and buying oil from them at the lowest possible cost.
Schmidt came in for the most scathing invectives. He was accused by Begin of willfully seeking to forget German crimes against the Jewish people. “There is no remnant of heart, morality or memory,” Begin charged with reference to Schmidt’s recent remark that Germany has a “moral commitment” to the “Palestinians who escaped or fled from the West Bank.”
According to Begin, “From a moral point of view, Schmidt’s statements certainly rank as the most callous ever heard. It seems that the Holocaust had conveniently managed to slip his mind and he did not make mention of a million and a half small children murdered, or entire families wiped out.”
ACCUSES ENTIRE GERMAN NATION
Begin accused the entire German nation of applauding when Jews were murdered as long as Germany was victorious. “But now we hear of a commitment to those who strove to complete what the Germans started in Europe,” Begin said, a reference apparently to the Palestinians. “Schmidt must have concluded some very lucrative business deals in Saudi Arabia which affected his memory,” Begin said.
(Schmidt, on his visit to Saudi Arabia this week, reportedly backed away from a multi-billion dollar arms deal with the Saudis that he had favored, on grounds that West Germany could not at this time rescind its 1971 decision not to sell arms to countries in “danger zones” such as the Middle East.)
Turning on Giscard, who faces a run-off election for the Presidency against French Socialist leader Francois Mitterrand on May 10, Begin observed that Jews had been persecuted for their “love of lucre.” He added:
“If you want to see unbridled greed and avarice, go see Giscard d’Estaing of France and Helmut Schmidt of Germany. The French have conveniently forgotten all the lofty ideals of their revolution and the Germans want to forget their unforgivable crimes. All they care about is how to sell arms at high prices and to buy cheap oil. That is the full extent of their ethos and morality.”
(In Bonn today, a government spokesman called Begin’s attack on Schmidt “insulting” and said a formal protest probably would be make to the Israeli Ambassador tomorrow. The spokesman said that Begin was electioneering, “but even an election does not pardon inapt and insulting statements.” There was no immediate reaction from France.)
BEGIN TO SERVE FULL TERM IF REELECTED
Begin also announced to the Herut stalwarts that he was prepared to serve as Prime Minister beyond his 70th birthday if Likud wins the June 30 Knesset elections. He thereby neutralized an important Labor Party campaign point which was that Likud voters would be voting for a temporary leader inasmuch as Begin had pledged previously that he would retire at age 70, two years hence.
Political observers said that by promising to serve out a full second term, Begin was scotching rumors that in his appeal to his old Irgun lieutenant, Yaacov Aridor, to return to political life, he was designating a successor.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
