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Israel declassifies files in Yemenite ‘lost children’ probe
Israel’s government hasmade public around 400,000 pages of documents which relate to previous investigations into claims that children were removed from Yemenite families during the 1950s, in an attempt to forcibly assimilate them.
Questions over the fate of around 1,000 children have existed for decades. Jews from Yemen, overwhelmingly deeply religious, arrived in Israel in large numbers during the 1950s following increased persecution. It has been alleged that infants were removed from these families shortly after childbirth and handed to families of European origin.
Many Yemenite families were told that their children had died and been buried in unmarked graves. However, it has been noted that an extremely high rate of infant mortality existed in the 1950s in which Israel’s nascent public services were also struggling to cope with a growing population.
There have been three investigations into the affair since 1967, all concluding that the overwhelming majority of children did die. The most recent investigation, a state committee in 2001 concluded that just 56 cases were unresolved. However, the transcripts from the investigation have been sealed until 2071, on the basis that they concern the privacy of those who may still be alive.
Yesterday, a public online database of all documents accumulated in the investigations was launched, including 1,248 documents regarding hospitalisation of the missing children, 1,226 death certificates, 923 burial records, 202 records of surgery following their deaths and 358 birth certificates. The move comes after Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who was appointed to re-examine the evidence, ordered that the files be declassified.
Hanegbi said yesterday that there is “a moral need to reveal the truth” and that the database provides much needed transparency.
He added: “Hopefully, this will give some relief to the families.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the database is designed to “correct the historical injustice,” while President Reuven Rivlin welcomed the development and said: “This has been a heavy burden on Israeli society and it should have been dealt with years ago.”