יומנים > יומן - מלא 15/11/1948

Monday, November 15, 1948

This morning I visited the artillery camp at Tzrifin. After the visits a conversation with the commanders and the longtime artilleryman.

       - Ziama [Aran]: The material (other than Al Hamishmar) that's sent to the army - is being held by Mapam members and not reaching the soldiers. He asks for [Gershon] Rivlin (from Maarachot) to be released for a month or 6 weeks - to be discussed with Lesya [Elazar Galili]. [Ze'ev] Herring will receive a three-month release. As to the newspapers they propose that each unit have a press committee to distribute the newspapers.

       - Regarding Uri Brener there are 3 suggestions: administrative officer in Front C, Personnel Department officer for special units, the army's representative in rehabilitation,

       - [The following individuals] went abroad[:] Kossoy [Yona Kesse]; Neustadt [Melech Noy], [Eliahu] Dobkin, [Berl] Locker, B.Z. [Yitzhak Ben-Zvi], Ziama proposes bringing Golda to the Histadrut council [meeting] to be held on December 7. This is desirable, in my opinion, but Moshe [Sharett]'s opinion is needed. [Yehiel] Duvdevani and Ziama require hasbara [explanation, public relations] in the army [regarding] the limits of the government's capability - [because] there's derision among the forces. Need to explain the possibility of rehabilitation, saluting, and the limits of a small state's capability.

       - Dr. [Dov] Yosef brought me a list of soldiers to be released [in Jerusalem]: for industry and cooperatives - 203, workshops - 57, cargo transport - 9, construction and groundwork - 14, banks - 25, trade - 82, petty trade - 15, hotels and coffee shops - 17, state offices - 52, the [Jewish] Agency - 39, funds [KKL (Jewish national fund) and Keren HaYesod] - 7, educational institutions - 48, other institutions - 32 - total 600.

       - Meeting with [Yitzhak] Gruenbaum, Israel Rokach, and [Eliezer] Kaplan regarding Jaffa - Tel Aviv: to annex the Jewish neighborhoods to Tel Aviv or not? My view was that we should create a single jurisdiction for taxes and services for Tel Aviv and Jaffa, without changing the boundaries until the war ends. Gruenbaum and Rokach wanted to annex the neighborhoods outside of the Jaffa boundary per the UN in the meantime - and later to create a taxes and services jurisdiction.

       - [Eliezer] Kaplan and [Avraham] Zabrasky regarding the defense budget. For November in-country 6,223,000, of which 4,763,000 goes to payments. Purchases and procurements abroad will be handled by the fundraising campaign abroad. We'll need to pay Czechoslovakia about P£ 600,000. For purchases in America and Canada 2 million pounds [P£], meaning [that] for three months we'll need P£ 18 million, without taking into account procurement expenses. In terms of income there's a million per week (for another 5 weeks) from APC [Anglo-Palestine Company, predecessor of Bank Leumi]. The "economic circles" are prepared to lend 6 million for ten years, the banks will lend 3 million for five years, there is also talk about a popular loan through lottery - not clear how much it will bring in, they estimate 3 million - in total there's 17 million. Of this we committed to giving the government 2 million (1½ for transport), to municipalities 2 million. How then will we finance the defense budget? I told Kaplan that if tomorrow I receive the desired report from Paris [after Yadin's meeting with Sharett] - we might be able to finish the war by December 10. If not - the situation will worsen, and there will be increased needs for procurement abroad. And therefore I propose that on Friday we have a joint meeting with the [General] Staff.

       - Staff meeting: On oversight in the army - David [Shaltiel] submitted a memo proving that there's no place for oversight, because combat efficiency was assessed in battle and the Operations Department knows what it is. There's no code [of regulations] - and therefore it's impossible to assess whether it's being followed. [We] should not establish a uniform regime across all the units - because the uniformity hasn't been established yet. Haim [Laskov] and Yosef [Avidar] rightly argued that precisely because we're a young army and there's no code [of regulations] - there's a great need for oversight. His role is to assist in the adaptation of the code and in uniformity, and in correcting mistakes. [Moshe] Zadok sees two main roles: assessing whether the order has been carried out, assessing whether the order corresponds with the needs.

       David [Shaltiel]'s reasons for opposing oversight didn't convince me - [my] impression is that he's averse to the position. In my view, the overseer [i.e., inspector, comptroller] needs to examine the desirable profile of the army - professionally, organizationally, morally - the extent to which it resembles this profile and the shortcomings it has to overcome in order to shape the desirable profile per our wishes. It seems to me that oversight should be [handled] in the Ministry of Defense - and not in the Staff. The Staff handles ongoing matters, which are the main thing right now (as long as victory hasn't been achieved), and in the Ministry of Defense attention will also be paid to needs beyond the context of current events.

       - Gustus Feld [sp.], writer for the Forwartz, came to see me.

       - Munya [Mardor], Hai [Issachar], Aharon Remez - regarding the dispute with Al Schwimmer, Leo Gardner, Steven Schwartz, Fays [sp.] (Al Schwimmer's assistant). Schwartz is handling GAHAL [foreign recruitment], Gardner is currently in America for a family matter.

       - Isser [Harel] notes that the [political party] Herut [Founded by ETZEL] is making an effort to achieve a majority in Jerusalem, and there isn't sufficient counter-activity.