For 73 years, large sections of the meeting minutes of the provisional government (1948-1949) were confidential and closed to the public. Following pressure from Akevot, most of the redactions made by the State Archives have been removed. The recently exposed sections teach us what the heads of state knew during the war: testimonies about massacres and war crimes came to the attention of ministers, and the government had a long and difficult discussion on the issue. However, contrary to the demands of some of the ministers, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion decided not to examine in-depth these suspicions and avoided questioning soldiers.

We publish here three of the meeting minutes. The redactions that appear in the documents are sections that remain redacted by the State Archives even after exposing most of the pages.

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Cabinet meeting,
November 7, 1948

Cabinet meeting,
November 17, 1948

Cabinet meeting,
December 5, 1948