Israeli Army Criticizes Conduct of 2 Soldiers Freed in POW Swap

The Israeli army, in a rare move, criticized the conduct Wednesday of two of three captured soldiers returned to Israel in a swap for 1,150 Arab prisoners. A right-wing politician said the men should be tried for sleeping on duty.

The army, which rarely publicly criticizes its troops, said the behavior of freed prisoners-of-war Yossi Groff and Nissim Salem--both privates--was “below standard” and added that “the appropriate conclusions had been reached.”

Maj. Gen. Amos Yaron, head of the army’s manpower division, excepted returning captive Sgt. Hezi Shai from the criticism. Shai, who also came home Monday, was captured in fighting with Syrian forces in Lebanon in June, 1982.

“They were dreaming, they were not fighting,” rightist lawmaker Pinchas Goldstein fumed, referring to reports that the two Israeli soldiers freed from Syria on Monday had been asleep when captured during the 1982 war in Lebanon.

Shrugs Off Charges

Groff, celebrating at home Tuesday night, shrugged off charges that he failed to fight back when he and Salem were seized with six other Israeli troops, who were returned to Israel in another lopsided prisoner swap in November, 1983.

“What do they want, that I should return to being a POW?” Groff said.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres has strongly defended the mass exchange, which freed some Arab terrorists convicted of killing civilians and has generated criticism from Israelis who have urged that Jews arrested for terrorist acts against Arabs also be released.

A group of wives of Jews on trial for terrorist crimes against Arabs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank began a hunger strike Wednesday in front of the Knesset, demanding immediate pardons for their husbands.

Wants to Hold Off

Sources close to President Chaim Herzog, quoted in an Israel radio broadcast, said the president prefers that a current trial conclude before he considers granting clemency.

Twenty-five Jewish settlers were arrested a year ago on charges of attacking Arab targets in the occupied West Bank. Eight have been sentenced and the others have just wrapped up their defense arguments in the case.

Yuval Neeman, a Knesset member from the ultra-Orthodox Tehiya party, said Israel should have let its three captured POWs sit another year in captivity in Syria in hopes that a better release could be negotiated.

Wants Soldiers Tried

Eli Ovadia, another member of the rightist Likud coalition, said the released soldiers should be put on trial for being captured without fighting back.

Groff and Salem reportedly were sleeping near the Beirut-to-Damascus highway when captured without a shot along with six other Israelis in September, 1982. They were seized by guerrillas from the Palestine Liberation Organization and Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

All eight have now been released in the two most lopsided prisoner exchanges of the war. In the exchange in November, 1983, about 4,500 PLO guerrillas were swapped for the six Israeli soldiers captured with Gross and Salem.

Kahane Sees Furor Gains

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Rabbi Meir Kahane expressed hope that the furor over the Israeli-Palestinian prisoner trade will bring down Peres’ coalition government.

Kahane, founder of the militant Jewish Defense League and much-criticized as an anti-Arab racist, was in California to raise money for his political activities in Israel, where he is a member of Parliament.

He said he will introduce legislation Monday requiring the government to free those Israeli Jews who are under investigation for alleged terrorist acts against Arabs or have been convicted of such crimes.