Knew Risks in Kidnaping, Rabin Asserts : Danger for Hostages ‘and Worse’ Weighed, Israeli Minister Says

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said today that Israel’s abduction of a Muslim clergyman was carried out in the knowledge that pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon might kill Western hostages “and worse.”

Answering three leftist no-confidence motions in Parliament, Rabin also disclosed that the Cabinet approved Friday’s capture of Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid two months ago.

He said final approval was delayed until “every grain of possibility for dialogue” had been exhausted on winning the release of three Israeli soldiers believed held in Lebanon.

Other Countries Not Informed

Rabin said Israel did not inform any other country of its intentions to abduct Obeid. “We didn’t include any other country before the action and did not even offer information about it,” he said.

Rabin told Parliament that Israel has rejected an International Red Cross appeal to visit Obeid, who was abducted along with two associates from the south Lebanon village of Jibchit.

He said Israel will agree only if the Red Cross is able to visit Israeli captives.

Rabin defended the Obeid kidnaping against criticism that Israel did not consider the dangers to foreign hostages.

“We took into consideration all the possible reactions,” he said. “We saw them all, including the actions that already took place, and ones even worse.”

A Shiite group calling itself the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth said it killed Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins on Monday after Israel refused to free Obeid. A second group said another American hostage, Joseph J. Cicippio, will be killed Thursday unless the cleric is freed.

Israel maintains that Higgins was killed several months ago.

Rabin said the Cabinet approved the abduction of Obeid, a spiritual leader of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement that is believed an umbrella group for hostage-takers in Lebanon, after extensive efforts to gain freedom for its captured soldiers. He did not detail those efforts.

‘Very Successful’

He described the abduction of Obeid, whom he accused of involvement in Higgins kidnap and the abduction of two Israeli soldiers, as “very successful.”

The defense minister was interrupted at one point by an Arab member of Parliament, Mohammed Miari, who chided Rabin for announcing his hostage swap offer 30 minutes after the deadline set for Higgins’ purported hanging.

Communist and Arab legislators accused the government of kidnaping Obeid to divert attention from efforts to resolve the Palestinian problem and end the uprising against Israeli occupation.