A year and a half before a mentally disturbed person threw a grenade into the plenum, the Knesset officer warned of a similar incident • Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Minister Golda Meir were injured • Exposure
Shprintsak (center) next to Hatzor (right)
Photography:
Fritz Schlesinger
The grenade in the Knesset - and the early warning.
Exposure: About a year and a half before October 29, 1957, when an unsettled man named Moshe Duak threw a spray grenade into the Knesset plenary hall, injuring Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Ministers Moshe Shapira, Golda Meir and Moshe Carmel, who were injured and rushed to hospital - an officer warned The first Knesset, Yona Hatzor, said such a serious incident could occur.
In a letter sent by Hatzor on March 31, 1956, to the first Speaker of the Knesset, Yosef Shprintzak, regarding security in the Knesset, which was revealed for the first time today, he wrote that "according to the current situation, a madman can just go up to the Knesset podium .
Even if the ushers catch him in time - this is to be doubted - they will usually not be able to prevent the grenade from exploding.
All that is needed for this man is an identity card and a normal external appearance. "
The serious incident took place in the old Knesset building in Beit Frumin, on King George Street in Jerusalem.
After the grenade exploded, the plenary hall looked like after a pogrom.
Fragments of furniture and glass, blood stains and papers scattered everywhere, and the Knesset session was adjourned.
The attempted assassination of the elected officials took place only one day before the inauguration of President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi for his second term.
After the traumatic event, Knesset Speaker Sprintzak wanted to postpone the event to another date, but Knesset officer Hatzor thought it was a reckless decision that would harm Jerusalem's international status and prevent foreign ambassadors from attending the ceremony.
So he initiated an original idea: in his personal diary, excerpts of which are published for the first time, he wrote that "I decided to take an improper step on my own in the days when they were repaired. I went to Shaare Zedek Hospital and asked to see Ben-Gurion.
I found there the military third, Lt. Gen. Nehemiah Argov.
Nehemiah told me that the Prime Minister was in deep shock and could not be approached. I tell him about the purpose of my visit. In light of the late hour and the weight of the issue, we agree that I will tell Sprintzak that the Prime Minister insists that the swearing-in will take place as planned.
Indeed, the inauguration of the President is held by a majority of the people and in exemplary order, on the day and at the appointed times.
I am happy in my heart that I was able to secretly donate a dime for our capital Jerusalem. "
Knesset Director General Sami Baklesh thanked Itamar Hatzor, the son of the first Knesset officer, who presented him with the pompom beret and the first Knesset guard pin designed by his father, and for donating his personal diary and many archive clips to the Knesset.
The full article will be published on Monday in the Knesset section.