"The Children of Yemenite"

- CONTENT -
THE CHILDREN OF YEMEN ARE THE DISAPPEARANCE OF NEW IMMIGRANTS, TWO-THIRDS OF THEM FROM YEMENI JEWRY, FROM 1948 TO 1954. IN MOST CASES, CHILDREN WERE HOSPITALIZED IN RISING CAMPS OR HOSPITALS, THEIR PARENTS SAID THEY HAD DIED AND ROTTED, BUT MANY PARENTS AND OTHERS DOUBT IT AND CLAIM THAT THE CHILDREN WERE TAKEN FROM THEM, IN A LOCAL INITIATIVE OR IN AN INSTITUTIONAL MANNER. HOWEVER, NO CASE WAS DISCOVERED IN WHICH THOSE OF THE CHILDREN IN QUESTION WERE TAKEN FOR ADOPTION WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR PARENTS, OR WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT TO FIND THEIR PARENTS. SOME DOCTORS AND SISTERS HAVE SUSPECTED THAT CHILDREN WERE TAKEN WITHOUT PERMISSION.

MUCH OF THE CHILDREN DISAPPEARED FROM THE BACKGROUND OF THE RISE OF YEMENITES THAT TOOK PLACE IN THE MID-1949. ISRAEL, FOUNDED A YEAR EARLIER, HAS THEN ABSORBED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF IMMIGRANTS FROM YEMEN IN A DIASPORA MANNER, DUE TO THE DIFFICULT LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE TRANSITION CAMPS IN YEMEN. A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN AND BABIES WHO CAME WERE IN POOR HEALTH AND SOME OF THEM SUFFERED FROM MALNUTRITION. IN ISRAEL, THERE WERE DIFFICULT CONDITIONS, OF PROPULSION AND LACK OF HOLISTIC MEDICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. THESE, ALONG WITH LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES AND IDENTIFICATION, HAVE RESULTED IN A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND ADULTS AND THEIR FAMILY, WHILE HOSPITALIZED IN HOSPITALS. THE ABSENCE OF PROPER LEGISLATION, ADMINISTRATIVE SURVEILLANCE NORMS, LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES, AND A CONSPICUOUS TREATMENT OF SOME MEDICAL STAFF LED IN MANY CASES, TO BURIAL WITHOUT THE PARENTS’ KNOWLEDGE. THIS WAS ADDED TO PROBLEMS OF LOAD AND IRREGULARITIES IN THE MEDICAL REGISTRATION AND BURIAL RECORDS.

THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE AFFAIR WERE JOINED WITH A DIFFICULT FEELING THAT PREVAILED AMONG THE IMMIGRANTS, WHO, IN THE BACKGROUND OF PREVIOUS CAVALRY AND PRIESTHOOD, THE ATTITUDE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT TO THE IMMIGRATION CANDIDATES IN THE CAMP WAS ENSHRINED IN FAVOR OF THEM, AND THE ACCOMPANYING EDUCATION IN THE PASSAGES THAT LED TO ANTI-RELIGIOUS COERCION WAS NOT A FUNDAMENTAL DEPRIVATION, REGARDING DISCRIMINATORY RELATIONS ON THE BASIS OF MY WITNESS, AND RACIST FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT AND SOCIETY. ORDERS TO STAND IN THE RECRUITMENT OFFICE, SENT TO THE PARENTS’ HOMES 16-17 YEARS LATER, WHEN THE CHILDREN WERE SEEMINGLY 18 YEARS OLD AGAIN RAISED THE ISSUE TO THE PUBLIC AGENDA AND WERE DECLARED TO BE ALIVE. FOLLOWING THE PUBLIC PRESSURE, THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT DECIDED IN 1967, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PARLIAMENTARY INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE, THE HEOL-MICHOVSKY COMMISSION. AFTER SEVERE REVIEWS OF THE FUNCTIONING OF THIS COMMITTEE, A COMMITTEE WAS ESTABLISHED IN THE 1980S, WHICH WAS ALSO SEVERELY CRITICIZED. IN 1995, A STATE INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE HEADED BY YEHUDA COHEN, WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY REPLACED BY JACOB KARDEMI. THE COMMITTEE ISSUED ITS CONCLUSIONS IN 2001. ALL COMMITTEES HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHILDREN HAVE DIED. THE COMMITTEES CLAIM THAT THEY HAVE EASILY ADOPTED TOO MANY DOCUMENTS AND TESTIMONIES ABOUT THE DEATH OF CHILDREN.

342 COMPLAINTS OF CHILDREN WHO DISAPPEARED WERE PRESENTED AT THE HELMOVSKY COMMISSION. THE SHAGGY COMMISSION DISCUSSED 505 CASES OF DISAPPEARANCE ( 301 COMPLAINTS WERE ADDED TO THE 342 COMPLAINTS SET BEFORE THE FIRST COMMITTEE) AND IN FRONT OF THE CARDI COMMITTEE, ABOUT 800 CASES OF DISAPPEARANCE WERE PRESENTED (ABOUT 450 COMPLAINTS WERE ADDED TO THE 505 COMPLAINTS LAID BEFORE THE SECOND COMMISSION). ACCORDING TO THE FRONT COMMITTEE, TWO-THIRDS OF THE COMPLAINTS REFERRED TO CHILDREN OF YEMENI ORIGIN, MOST OF THE THIRD REMAINING CHILDREN IN COMPLAINTS WERE JEWS WHO IMMIGRATED FROM COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, AND ABOUT 30 CHILDREN WERE OF EUROPEAN OR AMERICAN ANCESTRY. IN LATER YEARS, MORE CASES OF ASHKENAZI CHILDREN WERE DISCOVERED.

FOUR MAJOR THEORIES WERE HEARD ABOUT THE FATE OF CHILDREN. ONE IS A MASSIVE KIDNAPPING ORGANIZED BY THE “HIGH,” TO PROVIDE CHILDREN TO ASHKENAZI COUPLES FROM ISRAEL OR ABROAD. IN THE 1990S, THIS THEORY WAS AT THE BASE OF A PAID OZ AFFAIR. THE STUDENTS OF MALAM ARGUED FOR ANOTHER THEORY, CLAIMING THAT THE CHILDREN WERE NOT ALIVE BUT WERE TRANSFERRED ABROAD FOR EXPERIMENTS. THIS CONCEPT WAS EXAMINED BY THE FRONT AND SCULPTED COMMITTEE. A THIRD THEORY STATES THAT THERE WERE INDEED CASES OF UNLAWFUL CONSTRAINTS WITHOUT THE PARENTS’ KNOWLEDGE, BUT THIS IS NOT A INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM, BUT RATHER A PHENOMENON THAT WAS ADMINISTERED IN PARALLEL CHANNELS, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE SUPERSEDE