Lavon and the Military
To the Editor:
S. Z. Abramov delineated certain features of the “Lavon Affair” [February] but barely sketched the outline of others. . . . Far from spelling democracy’s triumph [as Abramov asserts], the defeat of Lavon by the ascendant younger set may mean the replacement of one powerful institution, Histadrut with its historic and essential democratic socialism, by another equally powerful and far more dangerous, the military establishment. The inability of Lavon, as the civilian head of the Ministry of Defense, to force the resignation of several senior officers in 1954, and the failure of Mapai to sustain his vindication in 1961 may imply that the military is already the center of real political power in Israel.
George Dargo
Brooklyn, N. Y.
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