Israel Cabinet to Discuss Ben-gurion’s ‘war’ Against Zionist Movement

The Israel Cabinet will discuss at its next meeting the growing inter-Zionist controversy over Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s continuing polemical “war” against the Zionist movement, it was indicated today.

Several Cabinet Ministers and members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, have protested the Prime Minister’s remarks in the Knesset last week to the effect that he would like to persuade his friends not to consider the forthcoming 25th World Zionist Congress next month as a Zionist event.

Justice Minister Pinhas Rosen said at the last Cabinet meeting that if the Prime Minister was unable to go along with the majority Cabinet view on the subject, he should not address the Zionist Congress in his capacity as Prime Minister, which he is scheduled to do. Other Cabinet members reportedly demanded that when the Prime Minister speaks on Zionism, he should make it clear he is speaking for himself and not for the Government of Israel.

Israel’s Progressive Party, which is a member of the coalition government, today adopted a resolution, at a party meeting here, expressing “regret” over Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s statement in the Knesset last week that the World Zionist Congress has no right to call itself “Zionist.” The resolution said that Mr, Ben-Gurion’s remarks “offended the Congress” and were contrary to the official status held by the World Zionist Organization.

Meanwhile, at the initiative of Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, a meeting between Dr. Goldmann and the Prime Minister was scheduled for tonight or at lunch tomorrow to clarify the Prime Minister’s position regarding the Congress.