Eighty-five former prisoners of Zion have joined the campaign to save the Lavi. In a petition published in the press Thursday, the former prisoners, headed by Yosef Begun who is still in the USSR, call upon the Israeli government to “decide to continue developing the Lavi.”
The future of the Lavi, Israel’s ultra-modern fighter plane, is under question, with the Cabinet yet to make its final decision regarding the cancellation or the continuation of the project.
Illustrating the former prisoners’ “deep concern for Israel’s security and for the absorption of aliya” is a message from Begun relayed from Moscow on Wednesday. Begun expresses his “pride that so many new immigrants are participating in the airplane’s development.” Begun continues that he hopes “with all his heart, that this important project will continue.”
Almost all the other signatories to the petition, such as recent immigrant Yuli Edelshtein, Silva Zalmanson and Yosef Mendelevitch now reside in Israel.
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