Prime Minister David Ben Gurion today sharply criticized Jewaharlal Nehru. India’s Prime Minister, going so far as to accuse the Indian leader of breaking a promise.
In a debate in Parliament, where members of the Opposition criticized some of the Government’s relations with Afro-Asian countries, Mr. Ben Gurion said that India’s “much vaunted” neutrality actually manifested itself, as far as Israel is concerned, through a virtual “boycott” of Israel. India’s attitude, which presumably is based on Israel’s action against Egypt during the 1956 Sinai Campaign, was actually in force prior to that campaign, the Prime Minister said.
Furthermore, Mr. Ben Gurion told the Knesset, Mr. Nehru failed to visit Israel during his Middle Eastern tour, even through he had “expressly promised” to do so. So far, the Prime Minister continued, Mr. Nehru has failed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
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