A Mapai proposal for a Government fortnightly magazine for Israel’s radio listeners was beaten down last night in Knesset debate when all of Mapai’s coalition partners won a demand for the right to vote against the measure.
Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, defending the proposal, said the periodical would serve 335, 000 radio set owners with information on state radio services and prove an “excellent language medium” for new immigrants.
By a vote of 57 to 23, the Knesset sent the bill back to its finance committee, where it was expected to die. The votes followed attacks against the proposed publication by the General Zionists, the right-wing Herut and the Communists. Foes of the measure argued that the magazine would actually be an organ of the Mapai and that Israel’s hard-pressed economy could not afford the 750, 000-pound magazine allocation.
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