Israel Prepares for New Elections; 30-man All-party Supervisory Commission Proposed

A 30-man all-party commission to supervise Israel’s forthcoming general elections was proposed today by the Constitution and Law Committee of the Israeli parliament. The committee approved the text of a clause in the new election law providing for such a commission.

The supervisory body, according to this clause, would consist of 11 representatives of the Mapai Party, five of the Mapam, four each of the Herut and Religious Bloc, two of the General Zionists and one each of the Sephardim, Progressives, Communists and Nazareth Democrats. The committee is rushing its work to complete the draft of the election law for submission to the parliament at the earlist possible moment.

A ministerial committee of the Israeli Cabinet was set up last Friday to consider and clarify a number of questions in connection with the forthcoming elections. Minister of the Interior Moshe Shapiro, a member of the Hapoel Hamizrachi Party, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he had resigned from membership on this ministerial committee since he considers appointment of the committee “political interference with the new elections.”

Meanwhile, a split threatened a united front of the Religious Bloc in the elections. The Lamifneh, a group within the Hapoel Hamizrachi, the Orthodox Workers Party, opposed the party’s inclusion in the Religious Bloc and urged that the party run on a separate ticket in the elections or with the Agudath Israel–extreme Orthodox–workers, if the latter made such a request. The dissident group further widened the gap between it and the other religious groups by going on record as approving compulsory service in religious settlements for women claiming exemption from military service on religious grounds, but it opposed drafting them into military units.

Premier David Ben Gurion had introduced an amendment to the law for military service for women providing that those claiming exemption on religious grounds should be required to do two years of compulsory service in agricultural settlements, military offices or social welfare agencies. The religious parties and the rabbinate are heatedly opposing this measure.

PREMIER BEN GURION DEFENDS HIS STAND ON MILITARY SERVICE FOR WOMEN

The Premier invoked the Bible and ancient Jewish history yesterday to support his position on military service for women. Speaking at a “passing out” parade of women Army officers held somewhere in Israel, Premier Ben Gurion said: “The Jews were among the first to recognize the equality of women. In ancient times the Jews had four woman prophets and one, at least, commanded a Jewish army.” He declared that “while women in military service in peacetime is necessary on military grounds, it also represents the highest recognition men can give women as equals.”

Premier Ben Gurion told the new women officers that a woman Mania Wilbushevitz, had inspired the first Hashomer croup in Palestine. (The Hashomer was the first self-defense organization set up by the Jewish settlers in Palestine while the Holy land was under Turkish rale.) He said that it would be a contempt of Israel’s young womanhood if they were deprived of the right to participate in the country’s defense.

True equality, he added, does not mean equality of rights but equality of duties. Man is on a morally higher plane than the animal because of his sense of duty and the highest duty is the soldier’s supreme sacrifice. Women, he added, cannot be exempted. “Man is created in the image of God,” he quoted, adding “but no-body can affirm that God is masculine.” He said that women have a special function in the army, to contribute a motherly touch to the grim, manly atmosphere of military life.