The controversial issue of education in Israel’s immigrant camps came up today at a stormy session of parliement in which the government was attacked by opposition groups for appointing its own inquiry committee despite the fact that a parliamentary committee was appointed for this purpose.
The government’s inquiry committee prepared a report admitting that the government’s staff in the camps was incompetent. This made it clear that an earlier press report stating that the staff of the Jewish Agency in the camps was found incompetent had no basis in fact. Members of the left-wing Mapam group also charged that the government report was “one-sided.”
Defending the report of the government inquiry committee, Premier David Ben Gurion denied that it was partial. He explained that the government had a right to appoint its own investigating committee. The report, he said, had not yet been distributed but would shortly be available to everyone, although the government has already published its contents in the press. He urged that parliament accept the report as it stands.
Leaders of the Mizrachi orthodox group supported the Premier’s plea, but leaders of the Mapam demanded that the government resign in view of the fact that it is responsible for the situation created in the camps. By a vote of 42-32, the Knesset decided to vote on the report of the government inquiry committee when it comes up for balloting.
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