A third retired general may soon join the Cabinet of Premier Golda Meir. Political sources said today that the Labor Party is considering the appointment of Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, former Chief of Staff and currently Israel’s Ambassador to the United States to a Cabinet post.
Gen. Rabin, who was commander of Israeli forces during the June, 1967 Six-Day War, would be named to the Cabinet by the Labor Party to balance the enhanced status enjoyed by the Gahal faction since it selected former Air Force commander, Gen. Ezer Weizmann, to be Minister of Transport, the sources said. The Labor Party already has one general in its Cabinet ranks in the person of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan.
According to agreements reached on the distribution of portfolios. Labor is entitled to another minister. Mrs. Meir is keeping open the posts of Minister of Health and Minister of Immigrant Absorption for Mapam, a partner in the Labor Alignment. Mapam leaders have joined the Government as Ministers-without-Portfolio but have refused to enter the coalition because of their ideological differences with Gahal.
Until the Mapam leadership changes its mind, Mrs. Meir has proposed that the important absorption post be turned over temporarily to Shimon Peres, leader of the Labor Party’s Rafi faction, who was sworn in this week as Minister-Without-Portfolio. Mr. Peres, a one time Deputy Defense Minister, is also in charge of economic matters in the occupied Arab territories.
On a lower echelon, the directors general of several ministries have announced their intentions to resign.
Traditionally, new ministers have the privilege of selecting their own directors general when they take office. The Posts and Transport Ministries are both headed by new men and their directors general, were expected to tender their resignations. The Ministry of Tourism is still headed by Moshe Kol, but its director general, the popular Meir De Shalit, has announced his intention to resign after 11 years to take private employment. Mr. De Shalit remarked that 11 years was too long for one man to remain in a post. The director general of the Ministry of Interior also plans to resign although there has been no change in minister.
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.
