Newspaper Page Text
Ljkud. Labor rift brews
Shin Bet affair refuses to die
by Yaacov Ben Yosef
Special to Ihe Southern Israelite
JERUSALEM—The Shin Bet
affair will not go away.
When President Chaim Herzog
granted a pardon to Shin Bet head
Avraham Shalom and three Shin
Bet agents last Wednesday for al
legedly covering up their role in the
killing of two Palestinian Arabs
soon after they hijacked a bus in
April 1984. an end to the month
long affair appeared in sight.
But. rather than quiet matters,
the Herzog pardon merely served
to intensify the affair, increasing
prospects that tensions would grow
between Labor and Likud which
could threaten the future of the
National Unity Government.
By Tuesday of this week, it ap
peared that a resolution might be
near: the setting up of a probe into
the affair, not as far-reaching as
some would like, but an investiga
tion nevertheless.
The affair began when former
Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir
insisted this spring on a probe into
the Shin Bet’s role of the 1984 Gaza
bus hijacking: terrorists hijacked
the bus near Ashkelon and took it
to the Gaza Strip where Israeli
soldiers stormed the bus. Two ter
rorists were killed as was one Israeli
woman soldier; two other terror
ists were taken away alive but later
died from beatings.
The Shin Bet affair focused on
who ordered the deaths of the two
terrorists. Israeli press reports have
suggested that Shin Bet head Sha
lom gave the order acting under
instructions from the then Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
After Zamir was replaced by a
new attorney general, Yosef Har-
ish, in early June, the latter ap
peared on the verge of suggesting a
probe, an act strongly opposed by
Yaacov Ben Yosef
his blanket pardon to Shalom and
three of his Shin Bet deputies.
Peres announced after the par
don he would set up a special
commission to determine future
procedures for the Shin Bet based
on “the lessons of the past." But a
tidal wave of anger swept over the
country at the Herzog pardon and
fresh demands were heard late in
the week for a probe that would
focus not only on future proce
dures, but on the entire Gaza Strip
bus hijacking and the subsequent
alleged cover-up.
By the weekend, pressure grew
within Peres’ Labor Party to set up
an investigative commission with
teeth, and sensing his own party's
displeasure, the prime minister
slowly came around to favoring
such a probe. The matter came up
at the Sunday Cabinet meeting but
no firm decisions were taken.
By Monday, both the Knesset
and the Supreme Court became
center stage. Live no-confidence
motions had been brought by the
small parties against the govern
ment for its handling of the Shin
Bet affair. They were all defeated
Shamir. But then Herzog issued soundly by the evening after five
Senate opposes U.N.
pension for Waldheim
WASHINGTON (Polakoff) —
Both the White House and the
Senate have put the government of
Austria on notice that they dislike
the election of former United Na
tions Secretary-General Kurt
Waldheim as the country’s presi
dent despite his lying about his ser
vice as a Nazi intelligence officer in
Greece and Yugoslavia during
World War II.
The Senate adopted a non-bind
ing resolution without objection
that urges President Reagan to
instruct the permanent U S. repre
sentative to the United Nations to
object to the annual pension pay
ment of $81,650 to Waldheim. He
has received it every year since his
retirement in 1982 after 10 years as
secretary-general.
Senator Daniel Moynihan (D.-
N.Y.), who sponsored the amend
ment, said, “Had Mr. Waldheim s
past been known, it’s very unlikely
he would ever have been chosen
for the U.N. post. “We can cease to
reward him for those 10 years of
and a half hours of debate.
Unless there was a quick resolu
tion to the crisis—by this time now
focusing on Shamir's opposition to
a probe and Peres’ lukewarm sup
port for one—it appeared possible
that the government could come
unstuck. Minister without portfo
lio Ezer Weizman, who has long sought
a way to bring down the govern
ment, pedaled a plan to get early
elections in October. That would
by-pass the rotation agreement
under which Shamir is supposed to
replace Peres as prime minister on
Oct. 25.
Lor the first time Peres declared
publicly that the Shin Bet affair
had to be probed. Responding to
the five motions, he said that the
allegations of a cover-up against
the Shin Bet and political echelons
“must be investigated in a way
which removes doubts." He added
that he was prepared to face a judi
cial commission of inquiry and
that he had "nothing to hide.”
The Peres tack was clever. In
saying this, the prime minister was
putting pressure on Shamir who,
many believed, was not prepared
to make such a statement.
Still, Shamir appeared to be sof
tening somewhat. He told a radio
interviewer that he did not rule out
some type of probe as long as it was
not a commission of investigation.
Until now Shamir had resisted a
probe on grounds that the Shin
Bet’s secret method would be
exposed, weakening that organiza
tion.
A three-judge high court panel
began hearing five appeals against
Herzog’s decision to grant immu
nity from prosecution to Shalom
and three other agents. The only
decision the court panel took on
Monday was to excise Herzog’s
name as a defendant in the cases so
that he would not have to testify.
Precisely why Peres has waited
so long before agreeing to a probe
of the Shin Bet affair has been
debated here extensively. One the
ory has it that the prime minister
did not want to appear to be em
barrassing or pressuring Shamir
on the eve of the rotation agreement.
Were Peres to call for an investi
gation, the theory went, it would
appear that his real motive was to
keep Shamir from taking over as
prime minister.
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deception.”
Rep. Charles Schumer(D.-N. Y.)
introduced a resolution in the House
similar to Moynihan’s. Schumer
and 34 other congressmen also
urged President Reagan not to
invite Waldheim to the U.S. if the
Justice Department places Wald
heim on its “watch list” of undesir
able aliens. The department has
not ruled on a recommendation
from its Office of Special Investi
gations to put him on that list.
The administration’s ambivalent
position has continued in connec
tion with the ceremony in Vienna
July 8 for the swearing-in of Wald
heim as president. The deputy pre
sidential news secretary, Edward
Djerjian, said the U.S. ambassador
to Austria, Ronald Lauder, has
not received an invitation for the
ceremony and that he has had
long-standing plans to be outside
Austria on that date.
TiD^n
TM3 min
CfTB
These are the deeds tor which a
man is rewarded in this world and
assured a place in the next honor
ot father and mother, acts ot
compassion, and the reconciling
ot men one with another But the
study ot Torah outweighs them all
(Peah 1:1)
Yeshiva High School’s
Beit Midrash (Study Center)
Continues Through The Summer!
Atlanta’s only community wide year-round Beit Midrash/Study Center offers Torah
study groups for all ages.
Study Talmud, Bible and other classical Hebrew texts with the rabbinic faculty of
Yeshiva: Rabbis Herbert Cohen, Shlomo Freundlich and Moshe Greebel, and spe
cial guest instruction. ~ „
° One-on-one or small group sessions
WHEN: Sunday - Thursday nights 8:00-9:30 p.m.
WHERE: Congregation Beth Jacob
1855 LaVista Road, N.E. (new location)
Study groups continue in Mishna, Jewish law, Hebrew reading, Bible for beginners...
Jewish Song, A Vehicle For Jewish Awareness
Special Summer Concert, Featuring:
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Wednesday, July 6 7:30 p.m.
Congregation Or VeShalom Admission at the door: *6 adults/*3 children
1681 N. Druid Hills Rd., N.E.For more information, call 873 1492.
. W. vVi '. AAftUiA W.4
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PAGE 3 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 4, 1986