Begin Govt splits in two over Weizman challenge

Press, 19 April 1980, Page 9

Begin Govt splits in two over Weizman challenge

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv The Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) will return to Israel today from a four-day visit to the United States/ to, face the most serious, threat-., t’o his Government since It 4 entered' office nearly' three- years| ago. ' T V i A call by the Defence Minister (Mr Ezer Weizman) on Wednesday night for an early General Election has split the ruling Right-wing Likud Party' down the middle. Mr Weizman said in a television interview that because of difficult political and economic • problems, the Israeli people ought to be able to choose new representatives, instead of waiting

: until scheduled elections in ‘November, 1981. i The statement was seen as 'a direct challenge to Mr [Begin's authority and an open attempt to cause the j'collapse of the shaky ruling ■coalition. Likud sources said ‘that Mr Begin could not iginore the challenge. One close associate of the Defence Minister said that he intended submitting his resignation to Mr Begin over the week-end. But other sources -said Mr Weizman would wait to see how the Prime Minister reacted. Meanwhile, Cabinet Ministers and political leaders expressed differing views on Mr Weizman’s statement. Two senior ■ Ministers called on him to resign and!

a majority of Knesset (Parliament) members from Mr Weizman’s own Herut (Freedom) faction said the Defence Minister must go. One Herut leader, the Housing Minister (Mr David Levy), accused Mr Weizman of stabbing Mr Begin in the back. “It is impossible to conceive of a graver act than this attack on the Prime Minister while he is on a mission to protect national interests,” he said. He was joined in his call for Mr Weizman’s resignation bv the Finance Minister (Mr Yigal Hurwitz). But members of the more moderate Liberal faction of the Likud said they would not allow Mr Weizman, identified as the leading

(moderate in the Government, |to be sacked. I The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Simha Ehrlich) said there was a place for Mr Weizman in the Cabinet. “I will-try to persuade him not to resign. We need him in the Government,” he said. Recent public-opinion polls suggest the Labour Party would win a huge majority if elections were held now. One poll, published in the “Jerusalem Post,” gave Labour 65 seats to the Likud’s 22. The Opposition leader, Shimon Peres, said on television that he would not rule out the possibility of Mr Weizman’s serving as Defence Minister under him in a Labour Government.