Israel Cabinet Crisis Must Be Solved to Satisfaction of All Groups, Jewish Press Urges

The opinion that the Cabinet crisis in Israel must be solved to the satisfaction of all groups in the Jewish state is expressed in editorials published today in the Yiddish press here. The crisis has provoked a great deal of interest among various Jewish groups in the United States, as evidenced by the numerous telephone calls received by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, asking for news of the latest developments from Jerusalem.

The Jewish Morning Journal, reflecting the views of Orthodox Jewry in America, expresses the belief that it would be more advisable for Premier David Ben Gurion to reach an understanding with the Religious Bloc rather than to insist on new Parliamentary elections. The paper says that new elections will being no absolute majority for any political party in Israel.

“Israel,” the editorial says, “will still need a coalition government, and this means that under all circumstances mutual concessions will have to be made on the part of each political party. Such concessions could be made at present. Considering the crisis through which the Jewish state is now passing these concessions would case the situation. Israel would be spared the luxury of new elections, which must be accompanied by an election campaign and, what is really important, the outlook for real improvement will still remain in doubt.”

The Day, reflecting the opinion of General Zionists, says that there is no doubt that Israel will weather the present crisis, providin that the new Cabinet, no matter what its composition, will take a new stand on the political and economic problems facing the country.

“We are confident that the Jewish state will emerge undamaged from the storm in which it is now enveloped,” the article says. “However, this can happen only when those who are at the helm do not lose sight of the final aim, which is that Israel must be the land, not of this or that group of political parties but of the entire Jewish people.”

The Jewish Daily Forward, in an article by Leon Crystol, reviews the circumstances which led to the resignation of the Ben Gurion Cabinet and concludes with the observation that nobody can foretell where the government crisis in Israel is heading or how it will end.

The New York Times, in an editorial on the Cabinet crisis in which Israel was described as “a refreshing example of real democracy in the Middle East,” said: “Reduced to its simplest terms the problem is one of failure of a slowly rising production to keep up with a fantastic growth in population. Since Israel was created, two and a half years ago, the number of its inhabitants has increased by 70 percent (to a total of 1,125,000) but industrial output by only 35 percent.”