Israel: Pairing Off the Generals

Israeli Premier Levi Eshkol and his Arab counterparts have one thing in common: they all find Defense Minister Moshe Dayan hard to handle. The eye-patched general, who was brought into the Cabinet over Eshkol’s misgivings, thinks the Premier reacted far too slowly to the Arab threats that preceded the six-day war. And Dayan does not care who knows it. Eshkol would like to downplay their differences, at least for the time being, but last week, after Dayan sounded off before a group of Israeli politicians, the Premier felt compelled to answer back. “I am astonished at his behavior,” said Eshkol. “I want to dissociate myself from this practice of a minister’s taking issue in this way with the Premier.”

Dayan is unbothered by such rebukes. He and his splinter Rafi Party will probably remain in Eshkol’s Mapai-dominated government only until the present crisis is settled. In the meantime, Dayan intends to establish as independent a position as possible. For, as members of rival parties, Eshkol and Dayan are likely to be squared off against each other in the 1969 Israeli elections.

Since Eshkol cannot keep Dayan quiet, he is trying to outmaneuver him by publicly championing another military man: Major General Yitzhak Rabin, 45, the present Israeli chief of staff. Eshkol has declared that Rabin, not Dayan, deserves the major credit for Israel’s stunning victory. And indeed he does. Dayan’s appointment to the Cabinet was unquestionably a morale booster, but Rabin was the commander in the field. He was the man responsible for the superb condition of the army.

A veteran of the Haganah, the Jewish underground army at the time of the British mandate, Rabin also served as a British commando behind Vichy French lines in World War II. As Israeli chief of staff for the past four years, he developed a highly motivated officer corps, modernized the tank force, and maintained a hair-trigger state of readiness. Last week Eshkol escalated his campaign a bit further by designating Rabin the new Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Eshkol seems to be grooming Rabin for appointment to the Defense Ministry. Then, during the campaign, he will have on his side a popular hero who can offset the criticism that Dayan is bound to level at him.