Israel’s annual Independence Day military parade will be held in Tel Aviv this year, it was announced here today. Independence Day this year will be celebrated on May 6. The progress of Israel’s army will be demonstrated through the parade.
Since this year will mark also the 20th anniversary of the end of World War II, the parade will also recall the contributions of the prewar and wartime Jewish settlements in Palestine to the Allied victory in the war against the Nazis and Fascists. Special emphasis will be laid on the aid to victory given by the Jewish units in the Allied forces, including the Jewish Brigade.
A motion for a debate in the Knesset, Parliament, of the Government’s “cancelation of plans to hold the parade in Jerusalem” was filed today by the opposition Herut Party. At the same time, a Foreign Ministry spokesman termed “completely groundless” a report that there has been American pressure on Israel in this matter. (Jordan complained to the United Nations Security Council yesterday that an Israeli military parade in Jerusalem would be a violation of the armistice agreement between Jordan and Israel.)
An editorial today in Maariv, leading evening newspaper in Israel, protested against the Government’s decision to shift the parade from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. The newspaper said that the reasons given for the change were “unconvincing.” Those reasons, according to Maariv, were that a parade in Jerusalem would restrict the army’s plans to exhibit certain heavy weapons, including the new, U.S. made, ground-to-air Hawk missiles. Deploring the Government’s action, Maariv called it “a retreat.”
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