The special session of Israel’s Parliament demanded by opposition parties in connection with the controversy over West German scientists working in Egypt on advanced weapons will be convened on Sunday the Knesset presidium decided last night. It will be an open meeting.
The presidium acted in response to a request signed by substantially more than the minimum 30 deputies from the Herut, Liberal, Mapam and Communist parties. The request did not contain a non-confidence motion on the issue, being based rather on the insistence of the four opposition parties that they did not get adequate information from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion at a meeting last Sunday of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee on the issue, particularly on the forced resignation of the chief of the Security Services.
The leftist Achdut Avodah, a member of the coalition, also was reported to be dissatisfied with developments on the issue. A meeting of its central committee issued a communique supporting a Knesset resolution calling on West Germany to bring about an end to the work in Egypt of its nationals. The communique stressed that its representatives in the government and in the Knesset should see to it that there was no deviation from the Knesset resolution on the issue which was adopted unanimously.
The National Religious Party decided at a meeting last night that Moshe Shapiro, Minister of Interior and Health and a religious bloc leader, should meet the Prime Minister and ask for more information on the whole issue, including the forced resignation of the Security Services head.
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