Editors of all daily newspapers in Israel met tonight to formulate a joint campaign of opposition to the proposed “state secrets bill” which Premier David Ben Gurion told Parliament this week would be introduced soon to safeguard Cabinet secrets. The bill was Mr. Ben Gurion’s answer to “leaks” such as the one by Achdut Avoda which upset a mission to purchase arms from West Germany and led to the fall of the last government here.
In a statement published in every Israeli newspaper today, the editors made known their belief that there is no necessity for a bill limiting freedom of the press. The statement said that in a meeting with the Premier it was he, not they, who suggested they be consulted in the drafting of such legislation. The Premier had indicated in Parliament that the editors were willing to cooperate in such a task.
Although today’s meeting of editors brought forth no concrete plan of opposition to the proposed “state secrets bill” a plan of action is expected by next week. The majority of the editors were vehement in their determination to fight the measure.
As of February 1, all foreign-language newspapers in Israel will be required to publish at least one column in the Hebrew language in every issue, according to a ruling announced here by the Ministry of the Interior.
The regulation applies to newspapers which publish three or more times each week and will affect newspapers in Yiddish, English, French, Polish, Hungarian, German, Rumanian and Bulgarian.
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