The State of Israel today voted with the Soviet Bloc at the United Nations in opposition to a Pakistani proposal that representatives of East and West Germany and of Berlin be invited to attend the U. N. General Assembly session to testify on political conditions in the country as a whole. The motion, however, was carried 50-6.
During the debate and voting on inclusion of various items on the Assembly agenda last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett had cast his country’s vote against inclusion of a proposal to investigate the possibilities of conducting an all-Germany election. The Assembly proposal is sponsored by the United States, Britain and France.
In the Ad Hoc Political Committee of the Assembly, where today’s balloting was held, Israeli delegate Maurice Fischer protested that to invite the German representatives was to prejudge the issue and, in fact, to grant sovereign power to a free Germany and to re-admit it to the family of nations. He substantiated this point by quoting from speeches of the sponsors of the election proposal.
Asserting that Israel did not oppose the proposal because of a desire for revenge, Mr. Fischer pointed out that pre-conditions of sovereignty were moral and political maturity. There are no signs of moral maturity in Germany today, where over 100 Nazi groups are active, he emphasized. He warned that conditions in Germany at the present time are similar to those which preceded Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. He asked the representation of the nations of the world: “Who would dare to say that the German people has been cured of militarism?”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
