The Israel Parliament last night adjourned its foreign policy debate until next Monday, when Premier David Ben Gurion and Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett are expected to wind up the ten-hour discussion by replying to criticism from the opposition.
During the debate, Mapam deputy Yaacov Chazan fully justified the decision to embark on the raid against Syrian gun posts on Lake Tiberias last month, but insisted that Mr. Ben Gurion should have consulted the Cabinet before ordering the raid. Mr. Chazan, whose party is the farthest left in Israel except for the Communists, rejected criticism of Israel, by Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev and declared that while he still considered the Soviet Union “a fortress for peace,” the Czech-Egyptian arms deal would “pave the road to war.”
Mr. Chazan, long a critic of United States policy, toward Israel, also agreed that Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett was correct in submitting to the State Department Israel’s peace suggestions, but once again stressed that the action should have been preceded by consultation with the Cabinet. Benjamin Mintz of the Poale Agudah also agreed that the Lake Tiberias raid was necessary to defend the lives and property of Israel citizens.
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