The General Zionist party formally introduced today a motion for a vote of non-confidence against Prime Minister David Ben Gurion’s Government following the disclosure that a Mapai Minister asked an Israel official in New York to raise funds for Mapai Party youth clubs. The motion will be debated in Knesset next week.
The General Zionists charged that Pinchas Sapir, Minister of Trade and Industry, sent a request on his official stationery to Aryeh Manor, head of the Israel Purchasing Mission in New York, asking Mr. Manor to raise $10,000. The disclosure was made by the General Zionist daily, Haboker, which published a copy of Mr. Sapir’s letter. The non-confidence motion charged that Mr. Sapir had misused his official status for fund-raising for the Mapai.
The Minister confirmed the request, asserting that friends in the United States from time to time contributed funds through him for various cultural projects and institutions, such as theaters, special schools, youth clubs. He said the $10,000 request was in the same category.
Denying that he had made the request in any official capacity, Mr. Sapir said that, on the contrary, he had made the request on the basis of asking for a personal favor and that his letter to Mr. Manor had accordingly been marked “strictly personal.” Asked why he had used Ministry stationery, he said he did not have any personal stationery.
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