Meir Rejects ‘masada Complex’ Charge, Says Jews Cannot Forget Their History

A charge published in Newsweek magazine that she has a “Masada complex”–a feeling of beleaguerment– was rebuffed last night by Premier Golda Meir, who declared at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot that “those who want to reeducate us, telling us that geography is unimportant, they who now strive to persuade us of the insignificances of the history of the Jewish people and want us to forget Masada–they may soon tell us to forget the Holocaust.” At that time, she said, Israel will be accused of having a “Holocaust complex.” Masada was the Dead Sea strong-hold manned by 960 Jewish zealots who committed suicide in 72 A.D. rather than surrender to the onrushing Romans. Mrs. Meir, accepting an honorary fellowship from Institute president. Dr. Albert W. Sabin, stressed that the persecution of the Jews by other nations through the ages reached such dimensions that it would be disastrous for later generations to think that Jewish history began in 1948, the year of Israeli independence. She added that the prime goals of the Jewish State were to bridge the social gap caused by increased immigration and to create one united nation.