Banks collapse as Shamir takes over

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THE Tel-Aviv stock exchange didn't close for so much as a day when the Israeli tanks and bombers stormed into Lebanon a year and a half ago.

Many soldiers in the middle of the battle were calling their banks and not their families.

Begin found it so exhilarating that he celebrated his 69th birthday, in the middle of the siege of Beirut, with a tank-shaped cake, and even the news of 19 dead Israeli soldiers the same day cast no shadows on the cheerful toast.

Now Begin has resigned his post, with the only admitted and apparent reason being gloom so deep that he didn't even care to make the five minutes' journey from his house to visit the president, but instead sent letter.

But the event that shocked the 'nation' much more was the closure of the stock exchange for over a week.

It was the end of 2½ years of the so-called 'correct economy' During this period, the policy of pouring out American dollars and printing Israeli shekels to provide rapid increases in the standard of living had lifted the popularity of Begin's Likud party from a low of less than 10% to almost 50%, to win it a second term in government and ensure popular support for the government at the time of the war.

The Israeli banks had their part in what was nicknamed the economic 'celebration' . They own a bigger part of the ecoOn the spot report from our correspondent in Haifa.

Shamir The government stepped in to get the banks off the hook, and promised to give everybody their money within five years.

Many workers will lose much of their savings.

The day after the bank shares crashed, all basic food prices were raised by 50%.

The Histadrut, claiming that "going onto the streets is undemocratic", declared a twohour general strike for Sunday October 16.

The workers' committees of Ashdol declared it a whole day strike.

Inflation is now way above its 'controlled' • 130% level, and heading for 200%. Students, workers: 10, Confidence in the shekel and the banks is lower than ever. Yet there is almost no unemployment, and standards of living are higher than a few years ago.

Now that the economic fraud has been exposed, it is up to Israel's foreign paymasters to continue to keep it afloat or to force the Zionist bourgeoisie to confront the workers.

Meanwhile the new Shamir government has scraped into office.

This should be seen as Zionism putting the tin lid on its own mythology. At the time that the Nazis were slaughtering Europe's Jews, the new Israeli prime minister was busy trying to get cooperation with the same German Nazis to promote Israeli colonialism in Palestine.

His links with the Nazis are documented, and he didn't even care to denounce the charges or apologise.

In the debate in the Knesset (parliament), the fact that Nazi-collaborator is to become Israel's new premier did not even raise" 'an eyebrow, though it featured in many press reports.

At the time of his underground activity, Shamir is said to have shot the man who escaped with him from a British concentration camp, in a dispute about the movement's methods.

Together with the 'Labour' Israeli president Herzog, he grew to national responsibility in Israel's 'Mossad' = the arm of. the secret service for actions abroad.

SSIN Day school County Hall, London llam -Wink