Yadin Seeking Full Disclosure of Agranat Commission Report to Refute Charges of Whitewashing

Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin said today that he would seek full disclosure of the Agranat Commission’s report on the Yom Kippur War in order to refute a new wave of criticism that the report whitewashed the political leadership and blamed the military alone for Israel’s failure to be prepared. Parts of the report were made public in 1974 but the bulk of it was classified for a period of 30 years.

Yadin, who was a member of the blue ribbon panel under Supreme Court Justice Shimon Agranat, confirmed today that he has been in contact with other members of the commission. He said he wanted the Cabinet to consider waiving the restrictions on publishing the report so that the full text can be made public as soon as possible. His immediate reason, Yadin said, was a recent statement by Shlomo Avineri, former director general of the Foreign Ministry under the Labor-led government, who revived the whitewash charges.

Yadin also referred to criticism contained in Hanoch Bar Tov’s biography of the late Chief of Staff Gen. David Elazar and a book due to be published shortly by Gen. (res.) Avraham Adan, a Yom Kippur War commander who was criticized by the Agranat Commission. Yadin said that at least two other commission members agreed with him that the time had come to publicize the entire report because much of the classified material has appeared or will appear in book form.

The Agranat Commission was established by Premier Golda Meir’s government to investigate the reasons for Israel’s lock of preparedness when Egypt and Syria attacked in October, 1973, and the conduct of the war in its early stages when Israeli forces suffered serious setbacks. The commission subsequently cleared the political authorities but recommended the dismissal of Elazar who died of a heart attack several months later.

The report resulted in the resignations of other senior officers and a general shake up of the high command Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was cleared of responsibility for the poor state of preparations but became the target of massive public protests. He tendered his resignation in 1974 but only after Mrs. Meir resigned, opening the way for a new government headed by Premier Yitzhak Rabin.

Avineri’s latest charges were branded “a straight lie” by Yadin today. He told reporters that there are three chapters in the published portions of the Agranat report that “deal with the political level. There is a distorted image in the public that the Agranat Commission deliberately blamed only the military level and this is dangerous for the public atmosphere.”