The Agranat Committee report, which exonerated Premier Golda, Meir and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and found that Chief of Staff Gen. David Elazar “bears direct responsibility for what happened on the eve of the war both with regard to the assessment of the situation and the Israeli Defense Force preparedness,” continued to come under withering fire from all segments of the population. Including leading members of the Labor Party.
Deputy Premier Yigal Allon hinted today that he will resign from the Cabinet unless Dayan resigns. Industry and Commerce Minister Haim Barlev also called upon Dayan to resign. Labor Minister Yitzhak Rabin told the special Cabinet meeting two days ago where the Agranat Committee report was released that there was something “basically wrong” with the report because it failed to deal with ministerial responsibility. There were indications that he. too. may demand Dayan’s resignation.
Gen. Haim Herzog, a former director of military intelligence and now Israel’s leading military commentator, also raised the question of political responsibility. He said on a radio broadcast yesterday that the Agranat report did not completely absolve the government for what happened before and during the early stages of the Yom Kippur War. Meir Talmi, Mapam’s secretary general, charged at a meeting of Mapam last night that “there is no logical balance in heaping responsibility on the Chief of Staff and not on the Defense Minister….Dayan was a partner to the decisions. The Chief of Staff may have made mistakes, but we must not forget he was the master of a military victory.”
SPECIAL KNESSET MEETING SCHEDULED
Meanwhile, the Knesset has scheduled a meeting next Thursday, in the middle of its Passover recess, to discuss the Agranat Committee report. The special session was asked for by the government which is expected to announce its conclusions with regard to the report at that time. There were indications today that the Knesset will look into the role of the political leadership in the period immediately preceding the war–the period which has so far been investigated by the Agranat Committee. The role and responsibility of the political leadership was skirted by the committee in its report. The Likud said it would demand a vote of no confidence in the government at the Knesset meeting. Barley said he was confident that the Knesset and the Cabinet would deal with the issue of ministerial responsibility.
The report also evoked a demand for retroactive ministerial responsibility. Labor MK Mordechai Ben Porat said yesterday that if the principle of ministerial responsibility is adopted it may have to be applied to the entire Cabinet, not just the Minister of Defense. He also said that if ministerial responsibility is invoked, it would have to be retroactive. “Perhaps we should start with such cases as the Netevi Neft affair or the Autocars scandal,” he said, referring to episodes within the last two years involving government figures. “Perhaps we should go all the way back to the early days of the State.” Ben Porat said.
Dayan, though beleaguered from within and outside of his party, still retains the support of Labor’s Rafi faction. The Rafi Knesset faction meeting last night, said there was no reason for the Defense Minister to quit and urged him to carry on in his post. But the Rafi loyalists appear to be going against the grain of the Labor rank-and-file and much of its leadership. Some observers warned that the various elements making up the Labor Alignment could become unstuck in a battle over Dayan, leading to the destruction of the party.
WIDESPREAD SYMPATHY FOR EIAZAR
Whatever effect the Agranat report may have on Dayan’s political future, it has sparked an outpouring of sympathy, for Elazar who, in the eyes of many of his military colleagues and the public was made a scapegoat to take the heat off the politicians. His home was overloaded with flowers sent by friends and well-wishers today. His telephone has scarcely stopped ringing and he has received numerous messages expressing the view that he has been the victim of injustice and even a miscarriage of justice. Elazar has retained his composure during the events of the past 24 hours. He thanks his supporters and assures them. “I shall overcome.”
Meanwhile. Maj. Gen. Shmuel Gonen, who was temporarily suspended from duty at the recommendation of the Agranat Committee, announced that he will seek a Supreme Court injunction to overturn the committee’s conclusions regarding his role in events leading up to the Yom Kippur War. Gonen commanded the Egyptian front when war broke out. His lawyer noted last night that under the Agranat committee’s mandate any person likely to be affected by its conclusions had a right to appear before the committee but that Gonen was never invited.
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.
