Mapai Backs Eshkol on Burying Lavon Affair; Debate in Knesset Today

Mapai members of the Cabinet voted unanimously last night to support Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s decision not to revive the “Lavon Affair,” after the turbulent events of the week on the long-smoldering issue.

The ouster of Pinhas Lavon, first as Defense Minister and later as secretary-general of the Histadrut, in one of Israel’s most confused controversies, erupted into the news again when Moshe Dayan, Minister of Agriculture, made a statement on the matter in Parliament. The key event was an alleged security mishap in 1954 when Dayan was Chief of Staff and Lavon was Defense Minister.

Maariv, a leading newspaper here, said that Mr. Dayan had made statements about the Lavon affair differing totally from the known facts. Members of the opposition questioned him and asked why he had withheld vital facts. He replied at length, but his reply was expunged from the record “for security reasons.” Maariv then reported the Dayan version in which the former Chief of Staff held that neither Lavon nor a senior officer, subsequently dismissed, but “a third factor” issued orders that led to the supposed mishap. Dayan did not identify the “third factor.”

Mr. Dayan also reportedly said that he had tried to bring his information to officials, but he was not heard and had never been invited to give testimony to the various inquiry committees that investigated the complex controversy. Strong criticism was voiced at the meeting yesterday about press “leakage” of a “distorted version” of Dayan’s remarks at a closed gathering of Mapai ministers which led to the Knesset debate. The Liberals, Herut and the Communists filed non-confidence motions to be debated in the Knesset tomorrow, Premier Eshkol, in his reply then, is expected to stress that a Minister who is personally attacked has the right to defend himself.