SO
Arrest of Beer Throws Israel in State International Jewish Assembly
of Tension; _Predict Strife in Government Proposed by Conservative Rabbis
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
JERUSALEM — The arrest
of Dr. Israel Beer "on sus-
picion of maintaining contact
with espionage agents of a for-
eign power and transmitting se-
cret information to them" has
created so much tension here;
and has shocked all of Israel to
such a degree, that the "affair"
not only has dimmed interest
for a time in the Eichmann case
but has aroused resentments
that may affect inter-party rela-
tionships, the make-up of the
next government and even the
friendships of many government
officials. •
An official publication an-
nouncing the arrest of Beer
was not issued until 10 p.ni:
Saturday, April 15, although
Beer was arrested in the early
morning hours- of March 31.
But all of Israel knew about
the arrest.
But the strict security meas-
ures and the censorship regu-
lations kept the news from
leaking out, and only one
American newspaper (the New
York Daily News) published the
report in absence of its release.
One of its correspondents in Is-
rael, left for Athens and filed
his story from there. It is under-
stood that that newspaper's cor-
respondent will lose his accredi-
tation. But the more than 400
correspondents here for the
Eichmann trial respected the
country's regulations and re-
frained from making the news
known.
Meanwhile there is much
speculation about the "affair."
Coming so soon after "Affair
Lavon," which embarrassed -the
Israelis and caused the fall of
the. Ben-Gurion - Government, the
Beer_ incident is certain to cre-
ate:upsets in the people's think-
ing when they go to the polls
soon to elect a new Knesset-
Israel Parliament—and choose
a new government.
The arrest of Beer- proved
that there are no secrets in Is-
rael. While the people here did
not talk about Beer, almost im-
mediately after his arrest, near-
ly everybody talked about the
"new paraCha"---the "new. • af-
fair"—and the mere • hint of it
was sufficient. Then many of
the facts began to become
known.
Contrary to statements that
Beer had not seen much of
Ben-Gurion, rumors - are that
he was very close to a _ ll the
leaders in the Mapai_ party,
the dominant Labor. Party in
Israel. It is known that Beer
was very Close to Shimon
Peres, one- of the confidants
of Ben-Gurion.. _
It is equally well known that
Beer, who- became known as
"the historian of the Israel ar-
my," and who is said to have
had ac_ess to the most secret
documents relating to Israel's
military plans, was well in-
formed on NATO activities, and
it is stated authoritatively that
suspicion was first leveled at
him by NATO. This has later
been denied.
Revealing the basic back-
ground facts about the "spy"
is the informati m that he may
not even be a Jew, but that
he adopted the name "Israel
before coming to this country
22 years ago; that he was a
German Communist to start
with; that h& first joined the
most leftist party in Israel,
Mapam, then broke away and
joined the Achdut Avodah
party, • the moderate leftist
group, and became a member
of the Kibbutz Dagan Michael.
Beer's close association with
all the highest government of-
ficials and his intimate links
with the best• informed men in
the government makes his ar-
rest the most shocking occur-
rence in Israel's 13-year his-
tory. It is surmised that the in-
formation he has passed on to
"a foreign power"—there is no
doubt that it went to a Com-
munist country, Beer's • pre-Is-
rael activities having been part-
ly in Czechoslovakia7-also has
gone to Egypt's President Ga-
mal Abdel Nasser.
Thus, there is such resent-
ment here that the "affair" is
certain to affect the general
election set for Aug. 15. A new
government will be selected on
that day, and David Ben-Gurion-
is due for a rebuke unparalleled
in Israel's history. During and
after the Lavon Affair, it was
predicted that Ben-Gurion's Ma-
pai party would lose ground in
the election. The Beer Affair is
certain to take away a lot of
Votes from Mapai, and the augu-
ry is that the new Liberal Par-
ty—formed by a combination of
General Zionists and Progres-
sives—will gain considerable
ground.
It has even been predicted
•
Cabinet Probes
Beer Spy Case
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
Chief of Israel's security services
came in for some sharp question-
ing by the entire Cabinet at its
weekly meeting, as it examined
the implications of the arrest of
Dr. Israel Beer, Israeli military
analYSt, who is charged with hav-
ing been a spy for an unnamed
Communist country. .
The country's security chief
told the Cabinet about his per-
sonnel policies, -the manner in
which all persons handling classi-
fied materials are screened, and
how his service- guards secret
materials.
Members of the Cabinet ques-
tioned the security chief on many
details of his report. Some mem-
bers of the Cabinet wanted to
know how it was possible for
Beer to Obtain information they
themselves did not know. Discus-
sion of security matters, arising
from the Beer affair, will be con-
tinued next week, when the Cabi-
net will decide whether a special
inquiry _commission on security
is necessary. -
*
*
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Israel
Beer, the military analyst under
arrest here for alleged espionage
on behalf of a .Communist coun-
try, admitted that he was never a
participant in the Spanish Civil
War, and that' he had never been
a member of the Socialist Self
Defense Corps under the Dollfuss
regime of Austria.
Until now, he had claimed both
these connections, giving himself
credit for having a personal mili-
tary background. Some Israelis
who were familiar with both the
Socialist "Schutzbund" in Vienna
and with the Loyalist Spaniards
who fought against Franco, had
doubted Beer's cl ed "mili-
tary" back •
Beer's for •y said his Tent
s."
admitt to b• h "exaggera
The 1 yer quoted Beer
ay-
m-
ing h had only "g*
vi-
press' " of
1
ary
ties
n h a
ze
tor-
history. ccordi
the
11 insi he
ney, Bee
have
cl ed
truth whe
osophy
earned a doc
ienna.
at the University
that if Dr. Nahum Goldmann,
the president • of both the
World Zionist Organization
and the World Jewish Con-
gress, should decide to settle
in Israel and head the Liberal
Party ticket, that the Liberals
might have a chance to take
over the Israel government.
The Beer Affair has_ assumed
vast proportions and r u mors are
mounting. Beer is - separated
from his wife, and has lived for
two years with the wife of a
Jerusalemite, and she; too, re-
cently has left him. 'women and
liquor are said to be his mutual
loves, but it is denied that he
passed -on secret information for
money. He is said to have as-
serted that he sees,the power to
whom he turned over the _infor-
mation as dominating the entire
world very soon, and he is will-
ing to speed that day.
JNF to Award Tree
Certificates to Bar
and Bas Mitzvahs
The Jewish National Fund
will link the Bar or Bas Mitzvah
year of every Jewish boy and
girl with the Bar Mitzvah of the
State of Israel by honoring - each
of these children with a certifi-
cate to be awarded at a special
ceremony arranged by every
synagogue and school in the
Detroit area.
The announcement of this pro-
gram was made by Morris J.
Brandwine, JNF president. It
has been estimated that 500 to
600 youngsters will participate.
According to Brandwine, a
communication was sent by the
JNF Youth and Education Com-
mittee to invite the cooperation
of the synagogues, synagogue
schools and Hebrew and Yiddish
schools in sponsoring special
programs for all youngsters with
Bar or Bas Mitzvahs in the year
5721 during which the State of
Israel celebrates its Bar Mitzvah.
The first occasion at which
these certificates will be for-
mally presented will be the . . an-
nual Awards Night of the
Shaarey Zedek Co nal
Schools. Ano
Cong.
h
Moses
er en 'which
cond a sp 'al ceremony d
ing avuo services May 21.
veral her synagogues an
ools h e already su.•itte
t e name of boys an
•came or will be
21.
ld dUring he
ame of
e
scribed
eerti ate,
hich in a itio o th
res"-
t and e cutive dir tor of
t INF, wi also hav the sig-
na
director
of th
titutions.
"We
dent," said
Brandwine, that this program,
linking the child's 13th *rthday
with that of the
of s
can be made
st me
u,
so that it w
lasting
leave
impression
pon
e child's
mind, and
on his 'future as a
member'
the Jewis
munity."
The
Youth a
is Dr.
ordinato
ties is
-
KIAMESHA LAKE, N.Y.,
(JTA)—The establishment of an
International Jewish Assembly to
act as spokesman for world Jew-
ry including the Jews in Israel,
was urged here at the conven-
tion of the Rabbinical Assembly
of America, central body of
Conservative rabbis. The pro-
posal was made by Rabbi Ed-
ward T. Sandrow, president of
the organization.
"The world Jewish com-
munity," he said, "is today so
splintered and truncated that
leaders of other faiths do not
know where to turn for official
statements of Jewish opinion. We
have, as it were, no address in
the world." He suggested that
the International Jewish Assembly
be comprised of official represen-
tatives of all major groups of
world Jewry—synagogal and lay,
Zionist and non-Zionist—includ-
ing Jewish grou •s in this country,
Israel
abroad
Sa owl al
appealed t.
the Soviet
Dion to permit
re esenta • •s of the Synagogue
C ncil - of , America o tablish
a maintain ant .
the . Soy' t
legation
the
until c
al
lace" as
1
b y
ed
ucational nd religio
ma-
•als to th Jews of
ssia.
•mon Greenber
vice-chan-
ce ►
of the Jew'
Theological
Se
of
Ica, at a dinner
honor 0th birthday called
for a renaissance of the role of
the synagogue in the life of the
Jewish people everywhere.
"If Judaism and Jewish life
are to experience a renaissance
many of us believe in store for
them, if we are to overcome the
spiritually sterile impasse faced
by the Zionist, the philanthropic
and the self-defense movements
which have. dominated Jewish life,
there must be a return to the
synagogue and to the siddur,"
he said.
Rabbi Arthur H. Hertzberg, of
Englewood, NJ.,. said: "We must
demand authenticity of ourselves
The , American Cancer Society
needs your help to prevent this
disease from killing men or wom-
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At the night session, six rabbis
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