Israel’s Parliament approved today the offer by West Germany of full diplomatic relations. The vote was 66 for, 29 against and 10 abstentions. Voting against the motion were the members of Heret, Mapam and the Communist Party. The abstentions came from Ahdut Avoda and the Agudat Israel parties.
The Parliament took the historic vote after Premier Levi Eshkol presented the decision of the Cabinet for establishment of such relations. Describing the issue as “no routine matter,” the Premier said that “in the balance of the struggle between emotion and reason, the need to strengthen and consolidate Israel must tilt the scale.”
He told the Parliament that “the account of conscience and history emerging from the Nazi holocaust lies far beyond the limits of any political act, but even that account–unparalleled in gravity–cannot — cannot exempt us from the duty to carry out the central decisive task–to consolidate the State of Israel.”
The Premier noted the series of disagreements existing between the two countries. He said that even as Israel was engaged in “grave debate” over the presence of West German scientists in Egypt, working on advanced weapons for the Nasser regime, it was “shocked” by the West German Government’s decision to halt fulfillment of an obligation it had undertaken regarding various security matters. This was a reference to Bonn’s decision last month to halt the final portion of a multi-million dollar arms shipment to Israel under Egyptian threats to recognize Communist East Germany.
The Premier said that the Jewish people’s tragedy in the Nazi era “lends particular gravity to any German act of commission or omission which might injure the position or feelings of Israel or the Jewish people.” Hence, he said, while Israel had acted vigorously over its differences with Bonn policies in the Middle East, it had not at the same time given up hope of seeing Germany lay new foundations for its relations with Israel and the Jewish people.
He added that the Israeli dialogue with West Germany was not conducted in a vacuum but was subjected to the influence of international factors, particularly considerations originating in the Middle East. He emphasized that in the past, West Germany had allowed Arab pressure to influence its attitude concerning diplomatic relations with Israel. For this reason, he said, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard’s proposal stemmed from dual motives. He said it was a weighty political proposal which, in view of the circumstances, was highly significant and an example of resistance to Arab blackmail.
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