FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
On May 8, 1952, The Jerusalem Post reported that a unified, ringing appeal for a revitalized World Zionist movement was sounded at the opening session of the Zionist General Council in Jerusalem, although the leaders who spoke differed somewhat in their approach to the problem. The chief difference of opinion appeared to be the same that cropped up at the 23rd Zionist Congress the previous summer – the question of legal status of the movement.
Prime minister Ben-Gurion, speaking as “one who served for a long time in this building,” asserted that far greater tasks faced the Zionist government than ever before, offering it the opportunity to be greater than ever.
A full-length Knesset debate on the country’s economy was expected to be held in a few weeks’ time, when the development budget was expected to be presented, finance minister Eliezer Kaplan told Yosef Saphir (General Zionists), who complained about the difficulties in obtaining raw materials for industry.
50 YEARS AGO
On May 8, 1967, The Jerusalem Post reported that prime minister Levi Eshkol said that the Jewish people “must be prepared for a sudden change in the nature of the mysterious special relations between us and the nations of the world, for any shock that may turn Israel into a haven for Jews seeking a home.” Eshkol explained that “the embers of the hatred which led to the annihilation of one-third of our people by a cold, calculated administration are still alive, even if the sole expression of this hatred may be the desecration of the only vestige that remains of the great Jewish communities – the cemeteries”.
Foreign minister Abba Eban told the cabinet that when Israel’s ambassador Katriel Katz called on the Soviet Foreign Ministry on April 21, he had explained to Soviet foreign minister Yakov Malik that Israeli retaliatory action against Syria on April 7 was an independent and justified act of self-defense. Katz added that allegations linking this action to policies of outside factors were completely groundless.
25 YEARS AGO
On May 8, 1992, The Jerusalem Post reported that the US State Department had publicly accused Iran of playing a role in the March 17 bombing of Israel’s Embassy in Buenos Aires, in which 29 persons died and 225 were wounded. State Department spokesman Margaret Tutwiler said that evidence had accumulated in recent days pointing to Islamic Jihad.
Israel would boycott two multilateral peace sessions the following week, due to the inclusion of Palestinians from abroad in the Palestinian delegation, prime minister Yitzhak Shamir’s spokesman, Ehud Gol, told the Post. Gol’s remarks came after US secretary of state James Baker issued a last-minute appeal to Israel to persuade Jerusalem not to boycott two sessions dealing with refugees and economic development, which Palestinians from abroad were scheduled to attend.
Secondary-school teachers kept intermediate and high schools closed, as their union simultaneously fought the Education Ministry in court, while negotiating with it at the negotiation table.