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by HM Goodman
Ezer Weizman’s friends and foes
•re confuted. This it pot
surprising, given the confusion of
the minister himself, for no matter
which political alky he looks
down, he seems to perceive a dead
end.
' It is no secret that almost from
the start, he has longed to
unshackle himself from the Likud
government whose victory in tile
last elections he helped to
mastermind. But, more than any
other minister, he is tied to this
government as if by a political
umbilical cord.
He makes te secret of his
opinion that the government’s
performance on certain key
issues—indeed, on virtually all of
them apart from the peace
process—has been feeble, to put it
mildly. Yet he cannot evade the
unfortunate truth that he, as a key
member of almost every major
ministerial nbmmittee, has been an
integral part of the government’s
decision-making process. -
He fives constantly with one foot
in the government and one foot out
(some say, with one foot in power
and the other in his mouth),
patting on a pro-Likud
government face in interviews, and
lakhing out in private.
He is, to the polls tell u*. the
most popatof pofitkssn in dm
country, but he has no mechanism
for translating this into personal
success. No wonder he and his
political tacticians are confused.
The bane of Weizman’s life is
Prime Minister Mcnachem Begin.
Despite the government’s
atrocious performance and tow
showings in the opinion polls, the
prime minister has given his
colleagues notice that he intends to
remain at the head of the Herat
party in the next elections, and
t(iere have been reports—
undenied - that he also insists on v
running the next election
campaign ns well. Both decisions,
Weizman feels, are a sure redpefor
an Alignment victory >of
unprecendented proportions.
But given the current political
constellation, there la little he can
do about it. .
He has been biding his time for
several reasons, including the
belief that his mint as defense
minister, coupled with his
popularity at the polls and Bcgin’s
failing health, will combine to
propel him into the prime
nfitdster’t chair in Mf 1. or sooner.
; While one cannot dismiss his
public protestations tW he has
refrained from resigning op at feast
a dozen occasions, “forthe public
good,’’ one cannot disregard his
clear political calculations. These,
however, now seem to have gone
of
How serious is the talk that he couldresign because of
differences* with the majority in the Begin government?
A contemplative Weizman
handing over the reins of power,
and Weizman’s flirtation with
Herat kingmaker David Levy
(unlikely as this title may sound for
the housing minister) has gone
sour.
He looks around the political
arena and secs a desert. He is
known to be talking with Deputy
Prime Minister Ehrlich and
through him to the Liberals, hut
one can assume that he is not
overly happy with the prospect of
sharing his life with such possible
colleagues as Energy Minister
Yitzhak Moda’i, or Trade and
home in Caesarea and writing
anothef book suddenly becomes
more attractive. The question is
whether yesterday’s potential
prime minister prill he at peace with
himself writing a book, listening to
the lap Of the waves, and watching
the nation being fed by men he
regards as iincompetent.
It is plain that Ezer Weizman
finds himself on the horns of a
dilemma. Will he compromise and
enter into alliances basically
anathema to him in order to
survive politically, or trill he abjure
the taste of power he has enjoyed
and retire from politics?
It is almost certain that he
himself does not know the answer
to that question at this point. Early
one rBccm week he was idling Knesset
members about hit furthcoming
book. Toward the end of the week
he was quietly meeting with key
■ members of the press to lay the
ground for his political
comeback. The options, as they
say, are limited but open.
One of the saddest truths to
become apparent to Ezer Weizman
these past weeks is that even if he
resigns his cabinet seat; there it no
guarantee that thte government will
fall. In fact, he tteek With the real
fear thgt Begin will appoint Ariel
Industry Miniiiter Gideon Patt, Sharon to replace him as defense
about whom his views are wfcll minister—incentive enough for
known. mother for-the-public-good
So the vision of retiring to a new sacrifice.
Weizman, and the nation, have
discovered these past weeks that
the sorry truth is that there is little
chance of any other minister
following him out, thus,
diminishing the Likud’s
parliamentary majority. Resigna
tion, thercfore.Would be op thing
more than an impotent gesture.
The three Democratic
Movement ministers have shown
with the utmost clarity that they
value their ministerial status above
anything else. Even the recent
vote on Hebron and the cabinet's
rude slap in the face to their social
policies by diverting IS 10m. to the
building of a yeshiva that even the
minister for religious affairs claims
is unnecessary, could not budge
them from their seats of power.
Mach the same could be said for
the Liberals, who watched the
Finance Ministry slip from their
control and Yitzhak Shamir
being appointed as foreign
minister with little more than a
token groan.
It has dawned on Weizman that
he may go, but they will stay. Aod,
conversely, if they stay he had
better stay as wen to preveal
further castastrophe from
befalling the country.
According to one of the defease
minister's very close associate*, he
was seriously considering
resigning two weeks ago, after the
'X See Wilireim, page 21
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VOL. LVI
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, April 11,19N
Yom Ha shoa
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LU H
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Terrorist attack pro
of Israel security neiL
by Yitzhak Shargil
and
Gl Sedan
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Prime
Minister Mcnachem Begin said
Tuesday that the terrorist attack
on Kibbutz Misgav Am in which
three Israelis were killed, one of
them a two-and-a-half-year-old
child, was proof of IsraeTs need for
security.
“Evil men who are bent on the
destruction of Israel carried out
this barbaric crime,*’ Begin said.
“It is only a warning to us as far as
our future security is concerned.
We knew it all the time. Nowsome
others will understand it batter.”
The terrorists invaded the
kibbutz on the Lebanese border
early Monday and took a group of
children in the kibbutz nursery as
Shmael (Sami) Shani, 34,
was killed in an apparent struggle
with the terrorists. An Israeli
soldier, Elyahu Tzafrir, of Holon,
was killed during a first
unsuccessful rescue attempt by the
army. During the second,
successful rescue attempt. Eyal
Gluska, the two-and-a-half-year-
old child, was killed and four other
children were wounded. The
troops kilted the five terrorists.
One other kibbutz member,
Meir Peretz, and 11 soldiers were
also wounded.
Begin received a message of
condolence from President Carter.
“1 am shocked and deeply
saddened by the tragedy at Misgav
Am,” Carter Wrote. “Please accept
my heartfelt ooadofences and
those of all my fellow Aatericaas.
Our thoughts are with you and the
friends and families of the victims
of the brutal act -
Egyptian Ambassador Saad
of
Moroccaa Jews at their traditional
Mimouna Festival which is held
every year on the eighth day of
Passover, said Egypt is against
bloodshed whether it is of Jewi or
Arabs. “Though we have an
understanding of the plight of the
Palestinians, we reject bloodshed
as a way of reaching political aims.
It is better to sit at the negotiating
(In Paris, the French
government condemned the
terrorist attack as “odious” and
expressed sympathy forthe victims
and their relatives. President
Valery Giscard d’Estaing issued a
personal statement condemning
the raid end expressing his and
Prance’s oat rage.)
Meanwhile, an~ investigation
was being conducted as to why the