Knesset Refers Issue of Arrested Editors to Security Committee

The issue of the Government’s secrecy regarding the arrest, trial, conviction and sentencing of two Israeli editors for publishing information connected with the State’s security came up here today in the Knesset (Parliament).

An “urgent” motion on the issue was brought before the House this afternoon by Uri Avneri, the single representative of his Olam Hazeh Party. Under the rules of Parliament which give the Speaker the right to decide as to the handling of such a motion, Speaker Kaddish Luz ruled that the motion would not be heard in a plenary Knesset session, but referred to the Knesset’s committee on security and foreign affairs. That committee always meets in closed, executive session.

Meanwhile, the Government issued a communique last night, confirming officially for the first time, the news about the two men already revealed in the press. However, the communique denied categorically that the action against the editors had been taken under the defense emergency regulations or that they had been sentenced for espionage. Both editors were sentenced for one year each.

The journalists concerned are Shmuel Mor and Maxim Gilan, respectively editor and assistant editor of the illustrated weekly Bul (“Stamp”). They were arrested after publication of their magazine, Bul, on December 11, carrying sensational headlines hinting at secret disclosures. The magazine was confiscated after the arrest of the men. The Government’s communique stated:

“Shmuel Mor and Maxim Gilan had not been detained and sentenced under the defense emergency regulations, nor were they accused or sentenced for espionage. The two men were presented before a magistrate within 48 hours after their arrest, and the magistrate ordered that they be remanded. They were detained in accordance with normal provisions of criminal justice and procedure. Their trial took place February 6 and February 12.

“The two accused admitted their guilt and each was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment. The court decided on a light sentence, as it accepted their statements that they had acted unthinkingly, and also for the reason that this was the first occasion in the history of the State that journalists had been sentenced for publishing a report in their paper. Publication of such secret information, whether correct or incorrect, is a grave offense.”

ISRAELI PRESS CRITICIZES SECRECY ON TRIAL OF THE EDITORS

The affair of the secret trial, conviction and sentencing of the two men continued today to exercise the Israeli press. Editorials attacking the Government for its failure to make the case public to the press were printed today in practically all of Israel’s daily newspapers.

Haaretz, a non-party morning newspaper, criticized the Attorney General who, it stated, “saw fit to accuse the editors of the weekly of grave espionage under the State Security Law when, at most, they had committed an offense against censorship.” The newspaper called upon the Government to change the law, declaring “we cannot tolerate a situation which permits the authorities to arrest men as suspects, to interrogate and indict them, and to keep them in prison without making even the briefest effort to have the facts published in the press.”

Lamerhav, organ of Achdut Avodah, the Mapai Party’s alignment partner as the dominant group in the Government coalition, congratulated the press on the fact that prohibition of publication regarding this case has now been lifted. Maariv, the leading evening newspaper, also expressed satisfaction over the fact that the issue has now, at last, “come to light,” stating that “only full publication can satisfy the democratic conscience.”

The Jerusalem Post, only English-language daily in Israel, objected to the fact that disclosure of the case had fallen to The New York Times, saying editorially: “No Israeli likes getting his information from The New York Times.” “It has come as an unpleasant shock to the public,” stated the Post, “that rumors it had been hearing are true. Two journalists were indeed arrested, held in custody, found guilty and sentenced without a whisper of this sequence of events reaching the press.”

The Government, in its communique, declared: “The magistrate’s court and the district court at the time prohibited the publication of the above facts. Publication has now been permitted at the request of the State prosecution.”