Anger and Recriminations

There was a great deal of despondency, bitterness and mutual recrimination today following the disclosure of the airlift of Ethiopian Jews and the subsequent suspension of the airlift. Informed sources predicted that a major effort would now be made in Israel to “lower the profile” of the entire matter in the hope — if hope still existed — of remedying the situation.

The weekly Cabinet meeting discussed at length the suspension of the airlift, but this part of the meeting was classified a session of the secret Ministerial Defense Committee and officials refused to divulge any details. Cabinet Secretary Yossi Beilin reiterated his official statement of yesterday that there had not been any cooperation between the governments of Israel and Sudan in the matter of the Ethiopian Jews.

The recriminations were directed against the government press office for holding a press conference Thursday at which official confirmation was given to the Ethiopian Jewry exodus story. The Tehiya Party and the Citizens Rights Movement have submitted separate non-confidence motions to the Knesset over the press conference.

JEWISH AGENCY, GOVERNMENT IN BITTER EXCHANGE

There has also been a bitter exchange between the Jewish Agency and the government over responsibility for the leaks which apparently halted the airlift. Agency sources were quoted from London, where the Agency is winding up its semiannual meeting, faulting the government for holding the press conference.

Government sources responded angrily, pointing out the Jewish Agency deputy chairman and treasurer, Akiva Levinsky, had appeared at this press conference, and that it had been held with the specific approval of the Agency and of all other bodies involved in the Ethiopian rescue effort.

These sources said the purpose of the press conference had been to focus international public attention on the absorption problem rather than on the actual exodus procedure. (In fact, Sudan was not mentioned by government and Jewish Agency spokespeople at the press conference.)

Anger against the widespread publication of the Ethiopian exodus was also expressed by the immigrants themselves. Some 150 immigrants at the Ashkelon absorption center locked themselves in their rooms today and refused to talk to journalists who came to visit them. Immigrants reportedly protested the disclosure of the airlift which, they claimed, could jeopardize the transfer of the rest of the immigrants.

CALLS FOR AN INVESTIGATION

President Chaim Herzog expressed the hope today that the leak of the Ethiopian exodus would be carefully investigated, because the publicity endangered the lives of thousands of people.

(In New York, Yehiel Leket, chairman of the World Labor Zionist Movement, also called for an “official inquiry” in order to find out how the exodus story was leaked “and to avoid such possibilities in the future.” He told the 26th triennial convention of the Labor Zionist Alliance today that the “leaking of the story in Israel on the rescue of Ethiopian Jews is irresponsible and may bring harm to the continuing of the operation.” The disclosure, he added, “may also spoil Israel’s credibility as a partner to the necessary secret venture and agreements to rescue Jews from oppressed countries in the future.”)