FROM OUR ARCHIVES
65 YEARS AGO
December 7, 1952
Czechoslovakia demanded the immediate recall of Dr. Arye L. Kubovy, the Israeli minister to Prague, on charges of interfering in Czechoslovakian internal affairs and with having “espionage contacts” with Rudolf Slansky and other Jewish communist leaders who were hanged a week earlier after being convicted of treason in a show trial. “The Israel envoy has repeatedly and in a way unusual in diplomatic relations, tried to speed up the emigration of Czechoslovak citizens,” a note delivered by the Czechoslovakian foreign minister to the Israel chargé d’affaires stated. “It has come to light that the majority of these persons had carried out sabotage and espionage activities… by intervening to render possible the speedy emigration of these persons, the Israel Legation tried to prevent their discovery and just punishment.” Close to 150 public meetings protesting against the trial were held throughout Israel. In Haifa, Berl Locker, xhairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, warned that the Prague show trial would be followed by a Romanian and a Polish edition. Yitzhak Gruenbaum, at a Peace Movement rally, said that the government, by identifying with the West, had brought on the Prague trial. He urged a return to the policy of non-identification and neutrality. S. Diskin of the General Zionists of Jerusalem said that the Dreyfus judgment had brought blessings, as Herzl was inspired by it to develop Zionism. This trial, he said, had the potential to unify the people of Israel, “by showing up their true enemies.”
50 YEARS AGO
December 7, 1967
“The hopes entertained last summer for the return of substantial numbers of those who fled from areas occupied by Israel have not been fulfilled, and there is still a steady flow crossing the River Jordan from west to east, believed to be at the rate of several thousand a month. No one can predict with certainty the humanitarian needs that will arise in 1968,” Lawrence Michelmore, head of UNRWA, said. Israel announced it was considering making special contributions towards UNRWA vocational training programs for refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At a party meeting, Golda Meir, the secretary-general of Mapai, said that a survey of hippies in San Francisco showed that 30% of them were Jews. She said that many of them were good people, but they just happened to be “anti.” She said that they were against their parents, home, rabbis and the Vietnam War, but that they were “pro” nothing. She then said she believed Israel had something to offer them.
25 YEARS AGO
December 7, 1992
Tens of thousands of reserve days would be saved by the IDF following its decision to equate the guard ratio in confrontation-line settlements with that in settlements in the territories. A 1961 law set the guidelines for providing security for settlements, with each resident of a confrontation line settlement required to do 10 hours of guard duty a month. Until 1992, the IDF performed this guard duty. Separate ratios had existed for the confrontation- line settlements and those in the territories. By equating them, tens of thousands of reserve days and around NIS 4 million would be saved.
– Daniel Kra