The Knesset voted 52-45 last night to confirm the appointment of Mordechai Ben-Porat as a Minister-Without-Portfolio in Premier Menachem Begin’s coalition Cabinet. The vote followed a stormy debate during which Labor Alignment dove Shulamit Aloni denounced the war in Lebanon and Likud MK Roni Milo lashed out at the foreign news media and Israel television for allegedly distorting the war news to put Israel in a bad light.
Ben-Porat and former Finance Minister Yigal Hurwitz had comprised the Telem faction, founded by the late Moshe Dayan. They dissolved it voluntarily and joined the coalition. This restored Begin’s one-seat Knesset majority which he lost several months ago by the defections of Likud MKs Amnon Lin and Yitzhak Peretz. The government is reportedly now negotiating with the ultra-nationalist Tehiya faction to bring it into the coalition as well.
Aloni, who heads the Civil Rights Movement within the Labor Alignment, opposed Ben-Porat’s appointment and demanded the removal of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. She said she spoke in the names of 22 Israel Air Force pilots who had publicly deplored Israel’s actions in Lebanon and demanded Sharon’s resignation. She was shouted down by Labor hawks Shulamit Arbeli-Almoslino and Arye Nehamkin who denied that Aloni spoke for the Labor Alignment or that the pilots represented the Israeli defense force.
Milo claimed that Israeli intelligence had confirmed that the Palestine Liberation Organization in west Beirut took comfort and encouragement from opposition critics of the war. He also urged Ben-Porat to “straighten out” Israeli television. Ben-Porat has pledged to involve himself as a minister in the dissemination of information, although authority over Israel television rests with the Education Ministry.
REPORTERS CHARGE POLITICAL CENSORSHIP
While the Knesset was embroiled in debate, senior reporters at the television studios a mile away were accusing TV director Tuvia Saar of exercising political censorship. The reporters’ workers committee ordered them not to participate in the daily news coverage planning session presided over by Saar.
According to the reporters, the “last straw” was Saar’s decision — allegedly for budget reasons–not to send a mobile unit to cover the Peace Now antiwar demonstration which drew some 100,000 protestors to Tel Aviv’s municipal square last Saturday night.
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