Foreign Minister Abba Eban accused the Israeli press yesterday of waging “an exaggerated offensive on public morale since the Yom Kippur War.” He implied that this was responsible, at least in part, for the extreme melancholy felt by the public since the war but noted that before the war, the public had suffered from an exaggerated sense of self-esteem. Addressing the American Jewish Congress convention here, Eban said there were no grounds for low spirits in Israel. “This people stands with both feet on the ground and holds in its hands the resources for its future,” he said.
Eban said that one of Israel’s immediate goals was to restore its place in the international arena and stabilize its present international ties. He said Israel was suffering from the same elements that were sabotaging the legal establishment of the international community by acts of terror. He said the Jewish reply to the Arab solidarity expressed at the Islamic summit conference at Lahore, Pakistan last week must be increased solidarity between Israeli and world Jewry.
NO AGREEMENT WITH USSR ON IMMIGRATION
Speaking for the government at a Knesset session, Eban agreed that a full scale debate should be held forthwith on the curbs against Jewish activists in the Soviet Union. But he dismissed as beneath contempt a charge by MK Geula Cohen of Likud that some secret agreement existed between Israel and the Soviet Union to restrict the flow of immigration to Israel or to prevent excessive publicity about activists whose visa applications were turned down.
Referring to the hunger strike of four Moscow activists–David Rubin, Vitaly Azbel, Vladimir Galatsky and Ida Nudel–Eban said that protest was only the tip of the iceberg. He said he Knew of many more cases of visa applicants who find themselves in severe straits in the Soviet Union. He said Jewish scientists denied permission to emigrate were probably the worst off because they were prevented from pursuing their research, lost contact with their profession and became increasingly frustrated.
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