Conflict in Israel over Autopsies Easing; Knesset to Get Eshkol Proposals

The conflict within Premier Levi Eshkol’s coalition Government over Orthodox opposition to autopsies in Israeli hospitals was eased today by a promise from the Premier that his Government would submit soon to Parliament proposals to meet Orthodox objections.

The Premier announced those plans after a second round of talks late last night with representatives of the National Religious Party, who included Interior Minister Moshe Shapiro and Social Welfare Minister Joseph Burg. Previously the Premier had met with leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel and Poalei Agudat Israel.

The proposals will be in the form of amendments to Israel’s Anatomy and Pathology Law which, in the Premier’s words to the religious representatives, will combine “maximum consideration for the sensibilities of Orthodox families and the need for scientific progress.” Autopsies without consulting families are permitted under that law when necessary to establish cause of death or for transplants to cure another person if three competent doctors have confirmed either need. Jewish Religious Law bars autopsies except to save the lives of others.

Details of the amendments, which were scheduled to be presented to the Cabinet and the Knesset in about a month, were not disclosed. The Premier was aided, in his talks with the Orthodox party leaders, by Justice Minister Yaacov Shapiro and Health Minister Israel Barzilai.

At least two groups in Israel were not satisfied by the proposals. One was the Agudat Israel. Despite assurances given by Ministers Yaacov Shapiro and Berzilai, whose Ministries are directly involved in the autopsy situation, Agudat Israel leaders said they would continue their public fight for a complete revision of the law. The other was a group of six Orthodox rabbis and laymen, all United States citizens residing in Israel.

LEFTWING GROUPS IN COALITION GOVERNMENT MAY OPPOSE CONCESSIONS

The six American residents called yesterday on the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv where they asked for United States Government intervention so that “American citizens in Israel should receive the same protection against autopsies that they would have in America.” American law bars autopsies without the consent of families except in rare cases. The six American Jews were accompanied by about 30 yeshiva students some of whom carried protesting posters. They conferred with Consul Huston Dixon.

Their spokesmen were Rabbi Jona Horowitz, former head of the Beer Shmuel Yeshiva in Brooklyn, and Rabbi Hersch Kohn, formerly of New York City. Mr. Dixon accepted a photocopy of a petition signed by 1,500 Americans and other foreign nationals resident in Israel on the issue and told the delegation he would take the matter up with United States Ambassador Walworth Barbour.

(United States Government legal experts said in Washington that the U.S. Government could take no legal action aimed at protecting American citizens living in Israel from present Israeli laws which allow autopsies in hospitals without the consent of the family of the deceased. Some U.S. officials here suggested, however, that the U.S. Government could informally approach the Israeli Government to ask for individual exceptions in the case of Americans who had made written requests to the Embassy for such exemption.)

The consensus of observers here was that while public unrest continued on the problem, Mr. Eshkol’s government did not seem to be facing any real internal or Parliamentary threat. Real difficulties might develop, they added, if the leftwing flank of the coalition would react with hostility to concessions to the religious segment which the leftwing groups would consider as too great.