Israel’s Cabinet today decided, at its regular weekly meeting, to reply fully tomorrow to three motions of non-confidence pending in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, and appointed Deputy Prime Minister Abba Eban to answer the charges on behalf of the Government.
All three motions–by Herut, Mapam and the Communist Party–criticize the Government for various alleged failures to act decisively on the issue of Egypt’s employment of German scientists, and on charges that Israel itself is employing German scientists on nuclear projects.
One of the non-confidence motions, filed by Mapan, alleges that Myer Feldman, special counsel to President Johnson, has said that Israel never requested that the United States intervene to get the West German Government to withdraw German scientists at work on weapons of mass destruction ultimately aimed at Israel. The Cabinet instructed Mr. Eban to point out in reply that Mr. Feldman himself had called that report “nonsense.”
Another of the motions, filed by the Communists, will be answered by Mr. Eban from his knowledge as president of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The Communists allegation that Israel is using German scientists for development of nuclear energy will be countered by Mr. Eban with the assertion that he knows that the Germans at work at the Weizmann Institute are engaged only in normal scientific research. Herut’s motion criticizes the Government in general for “failure” to enlist U. S. aid toward the withdrawal of the German scientists from Egypt.
Mr. Eban will also report to the Knesset tomorrow on Israel’s fight against non-recognition in the United Nations by the UN’s “Group of 77,” a large bloc consisting of Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. Under Arab pressures, Israel has thus far been subjected to non-recognition harassment by some members of that bloc. (See page 3.)
Mr. Eban will discuss the UN development in his capacity of Acting Foreign Minister. The Foreign Minister, Mrs. Golda Meir, is now in Senegal for a special conference of Israeli diplomats accredited to several African countries. Before leaving here, he said that conference will seek ways for increasing cooperation between Israel and friendly African states.
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