Yariv Resigns from Government; Questions Need, Usefulness of Information Ministry in Present Form

Information Minister Aharon Yariv announced his resignation from the government this morning. Sources here said the retired general who was chief of Israel army intelligence from 1966-72 had tendered his resignation to Premier Yitzhak Rabin last Friday and later rejected Rabin’s request that he reconsider it. His letter of resignation reportedly questioned the need and usefulness of the Information Ministry in its present form.

The Information Ministry is a relatively new Cabinet post, having been established last March. The portfolio was originally held by Shimon Peres, now Minister of Defense. Yariv’s letter of resignation was reportedly critical of the functioning of the Cabinet as a whole. He and Transport Minister Gad Yaacobi had been commissioned specially to study the Cabinet’s work patterns and recommend methods of improving them. But their suggestions apparently were never acted upon.

Yariv reportedly was especially critical of the fact that the Rabin Cabinet has failed so far to implement the recommendation of the Agranat Committee investigating the Yom Kippur War that a select ministerial security committee be established as a swift and efficient decision-making body on vital defense issues, particularly in times of emergency. Rabin so far has perpetuated the old system set up during the Premiership of Golda Meir in which the entire Cabinet of 20-add members constitutes itself a ministerial security committee to deal with security issues. The Agranat Committee’s interim report, published last April, implicitly criticized that system.

Observers here noted that relations have cooled considerably between Rabin and Yariv, his former army colleague in recent months. Yariv was said to be miffed at not being included in Rabin’s inner circle of ministers–principally Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, Defense Minister Peres, Justice Minister Haim Zadok and Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz–with whom the Premier consults regularly on major policy matters.

The fact that Yariv did not participate in the government leaders’ meetings with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger in Jerusalem last December contributed to Yariv’s frustration and resulted in his making several faux pas at press briefings and news conferences which were deeply embarrasing to him personally.

Yariv, who came out of retirement in 1973 to negotiate the kilometer 101 cease-fire agreement with Egyptian officers after the Yom Kippur War, was appointed to the Cabinet last June by Rabin. He reportedly accepted the post reluctantly. He is said to have felt since then that the smooth functioning and growth of the Information Ministry was being hobbled by several factors, among them its ongoing dispute with the Foreign Ministry over responsibility for disseminating information.

At a press conference this evening, Yariv suggested that the Information Ministry be reduced to the status of a department within the Prime Minister’s Office, headed by a top civil servant. He also indicated that he would retain his Knesset seat and membership in the Labor Party. His resignation will become effective next Tuesday, 48 hours after it is formally submitted to the Cabinet.

(By David Landau)