Israel to Probe How N.b.c. Secured Photo of Dimona Nuclear Plant

The photo of Israel’s nuclear facility at Dimona, shown Sunday night on the National Broadcasting Company’s television network in the United States, became the subject of an investigation begun here today by the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset (Parliament). (On its broadcast, Sunday night, NBC-TV had stated that the Dimona photo had been taken secretly and without Israel Government authorization.) The Committee voted today to probe the issue.

Members of the opposition parties on the Committee, belonging to Rafi and Gahal, called on Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to explain how an American television team managed to take the picture despite security precautions and laws barring entry to the Dimona plant and forbidding photography in the “security areas.” They also demanded an explanation of how the photo left Israel without being examined by the military censors. Mr. Eshkol is scheduled to reply to the Committee’s questions by tomorrow.

Prime Minister Eshkol declared today that neither Israel nor any of the Arab states has nuclear arms, “and we are not interested that there be such arms in our area.” He made this statement in an interview in the Israeli army’s weekly newspaper, Bamachneh. Asked whether he would support efforts to declare the Middle East region a nuclear-free zone, he replied: “As a first stage, we propose a ceiling for armaments of all types in our region. But, since the Arabs don’t recognize us, who will sit and talk with us?”

The two opposition groups, which raised the issue of the photograph, are composed of the new political party led by former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, and of the fusion of Herut and the former Liberal Party.