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Ben Gurion May Exchange Defense Portfolio for Economic Role

June 16, 1952
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Israeli Premier David Ben Gurion considers the economic situation of Israel to be so precarious that he is planning to resign his portfolio as Minister of Defense so that he can devote himself more activety to coordinating economic measures, the Sunday Express reported today in a dispatch from its Tel Aviv correspondent.

The correspondent said that the position of Israel’s economy was never as had as it is now–“with its reserves of foreign exchange gone, a near-bankrupt Treasury and an inflation which is rampant.” He said that few Israelis expect the return of the money deducted by the government in its current compulsory loan. Finally, the correspondent stressed, “unless America comes to the rescue again, Israel will go hungry.”

The Sunday Observer today published an article on Israel’s economic crisis which attributed the Jewish State’s difficulties in part to “domestic mismanagement” and the “too lavish” spending of foreign exchange on “ambitious capital development schemes without regard for the import of raw materials and fuel” nor for the “development of exports.” The Observer expressed the opinion that if the gift dollars from American Jews are “not suddenly and drastically reduced,” Israel is in no danger of economic collapse.

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