THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Israel Debates 2nd TV Channel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A
new battle is shaping up be-
tween the coalition and the
opposition over government
proposals to establish a
commercial television
channel to compete with the
present single channel
which is state-owned but
autonomous.
Energy Minister Yitzhak
Modai is expected to soon
propose the new channel to
the Ministerial Economic
Committee.
Several business groups
are known to be interested
in bidding for the franchise
allt operate a commercial
annel. If the full Cabinet
pproves Modai's proposal,
the Economic Committee
will begin to consider bids.
Commercial television
has been under discus-
sion for years. The latest
move in favor of a com-
mercial channel has
come at a time when na-
tional television, and to a
lesser extent, national
radio, are under strong
attack by government
ministers and coalition
Knesset members for al-
legedly being too nega-
tive and down-beat in re-
porting news of govern-
ment activities.
Modai and Finance
Minister Yigal Hurwitz are
among the most severe cri-
tics of public television's
handling of the news and
public affairs. Binyamin
Halevi, an MK of the Demo-
cratic Movement, recently
Release Hess
If Treatment
`Is Unavailable'
VIENNA — Nazi-hunter
Simon Wiesenthal has
clarified remarks he made
last week which were re-
ported as saying that Wie-
senthal favored releasing
86-year-old Rudolf Hess
from Berlin's Spandau
Prison for health reasons.
Wiesenthal said he fa-
vored releasing Hess if he
could no longer be given
medical treatment at the
prison.
Hess was sentenced in
1946 to life in prison for war
crimes.
referred to TV news report-
ers as "criminals" and had
to make a public apology.
Labor MKs have charged
that coalition ,attacks on
television and radio staff
reporters were deliberately
intended to boost the
chances of Cabinet approval
of a second channel. They
accused the government of
wanting to create a com-
mercial channel to be run by
pro-Likud business inter-
ests.
Moshe Shahal, chairman
of the Labor Party's Knesset
faction, called for tight
Knesset and public control
over any second channel to
ensure that it does not be-
come a political tool.
Friday, August 1, 1980 13
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EEC Chairman Due in Israel
to Discuss Venice Declaration
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Luxembourg's Foreign
Minister Gaston Thorn,
current chairman of the
European Economic Com-
munity's (EEC) Council of
Ministers, is due in Israel
for a short visit this week as
part of the EEC's study mis-
sion to the Middle East. The
Cabinet has given its ap-
proval to 'Foreign Minister
Yitzhak Shamir's recom-
mendation that Israel re-
ceive Thorn with all due
courtesies.
Unofficial sources said
Thorn would be here for
only 24 hours, though ap-
parently the details of his
schedule are not yet com-
pleted. It is not yet known
whether he will meet with
Premier Menahem Begin.
EEC sources here say
Thorn intends to visit Israel
once again, later in the
summer, after visiting sev-
eral of the Arab countries
and meeting with their
leaders, as well as with the
Palestine Liberation
Organization leadership.
He will submit an interim
report before the United
Nations General Assembly
convenes in the third week
of September.
Deputy Cabinet Secre-
tary Michael Nir said Is-
ael had not posed any
' formal conditions to
Thorn's visit. Shamir had
made it clear at Cabinet,
however, that he and
other Israeli leaders
would reiterate to Thorn
in forceful terms Israel's
rejection of the EEC's
Venice declaration of
June, which set up his
fact-finding mission.
That declaration also
called for the PLO to be
"associated" with the
peace negotiations.
Shamir has said in public
statements since June 15
that for Israel the Venice
r
declaration is "not a basis
for discussion." Other offi-
cials have said that the
dialogue with the EEC mis-
sion, therefore, must be
based on a broader founda-
tion than the Venice dec-
laration.
Israeli sources say pri-
vately that the EEC, in in-
forming Israel of Thorn's
desire to come here this
week, took account of Is-
rael's attitude to the Venice
declaration, and couched
the "terms of reference" of
his mission in broad terms
which Israel could accept.
NE ULTRA LOW TAR HAS IT
Soviet Committee
Holds Yahrzeit
for Jewish Poets
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
The Soviet Jewry Commit-
tee of the Jewish Commu-
nity Council of Greater
Washington last week
sponsored a yahrzeit of the
"Night of the Murdered
Poets" across the street
from the Soviet Embassy
here.
This observance, tradi-
tionally held on Tisha b'Av,
commemorates the night of
Aug. 12, 1952, when 24
Russian Jewish writers,
poets and intellectuals were
murdered on Stallin's or-
ders in an attempt to eradi-
cate all vestiges of Jewish
culture in the Soviet Union.
The traditional mincha
service was conducted by
Mendel Abrams of Beth
Torah Congregation,
president of the Washing-
ton Board of Rabbis. The
service included readings
from the Book of Lamenta-
tions and the works of the
great Yiddish poets and
writers murdered in 1952
and those imprisoned in the
Soviet Union today. About
150 people attended.
.
,
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