Likud and the Labor Alignment failed to reach agreement yesterday on the formulation of a joint Knesset resolution condemning the violence and inflammatory rhetoric that followed publication of the findings of the commission of inquiry into the Beirut refugee camps massacre last week.
Labor insisted that the resolution cite the murder of Emil Grunzweig as an example of the violence employed to silence those who lawfully express their opinions, Grunzweig was killed and nine other persons were wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into a group of Peace Now demonstrators in Jerusalem last Thursday.
A Likud-proposed resolution phrased in more general terms, won the support of the Knesset majority. It put the Knesset on record as condemning “the detestable murder of Emil Grunzweig” and called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to trial. The resolution also condemned all efforts to act against freedom of speech and democratic principles and called for an end to all manifestations of verbal and physical violence.
The Israeli public was urged to confine the political debate to the boundaries of national responsibility while maintaining the principles of discussion and debate.
Knesset Speaker Menachem Savidor abstained in the voting. He said he did so to express his disappointment over the failure to achieve agreement on a joint motion at this grave juncture in the life of the nation.
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