The Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, overwhelmingly defeated today a Communist party motion of non-confidence in the Government over Israel’s vote on the issue of seating the Communist Chinese regime in the United Nations.
Education Minister Abba Eban, replying in behalf of the Government in the absence of Foreign Minister Golda Meir, said Israel’s attitude in the voting expressed three points: support for the seating of a great and populous power–the peoples of China–in the UN and all its agencies; concern for peace in the Far East and the world; and concern for the democratic principle involved in the United Nations Charter in the protection of small nations against decisions by a simple majority.
Esther Wilenska, a Communist deputy, who submitted the motion, attacked the support by Israel for the Ceylon proposal requiring a two-thirds vote on the issue of seating Red China, which made it impossible for that country to gain UN admission this year. She also assailed Israel’s refusal to support a Soviet resolution at the UN to oust the Formosan Chinese regime. She said that this Israel policy was contradictory and detrimental to the interests of Israel and world peace.
Although no party supported the motion, Mapam, Herut and the Liberal party abstained from the vote, each for different reasons. Arie Ben Eliezer asserted that Red China had always been aligned with Israel’s enemies. Izhar Harari of the Liberal party said he approved the vote though his party was opposed to it. Mapam’s Israel Barzilai declared that the Ceylon proposal by Israel invalidated the vote of acceptance. Mr. Eban said that Israel was one of the first countries to recognize Red China and had always sought to arrive at friendly relations with that regime.
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.
