Hidden Files Expose Truth Behind Yemenite Children Affair

The mystery of the Yemenite Children Affair reveals shocking numbers that challenge comprehension. Israel witnessed the disappearance of 1,000 to 5,000 children from immigrant families between 1948 and 1970. Some supporters place this number even higher at 4,500. Low estimates show all but one of eight children from Yemenite families disappeared without a trace.

The fate of these Yemenite Jews remains disputed despite three government investigations since the 1960s. Families of kidnapped Israeli children tell heartbreaking stories that sound remarkably alike. Mothers who delivered in hospitals or brought their babies to doctors learned suddenly that their children had died. Hundreds of testimonies from Israel’s forgotten children point to something more sinister – babies were taken illegally from Yemenite Jews and given to childless Ashkenazi families.

Official investigations claim most children died from diseases and were buried without telling their parents. Many families refuse to accept this explanation. The Israeli government took its most important step in February 2021 by deciding to “express sorrow” about the affair and provide compensation to affected families. The truth behind this dark chapter of Israeli history remains elusive.

Government Opens Classified Archives on Yemenite Children

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The Israeli government took a major step in December 2016 to address the decades-old Yemenite Children Affair. They declassified hundreds of thousands of documents related to the case. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognized the need for transparency and asked Minister Tzachi Hanegbi to look at evidence from previous investigations to decide which materials could become available to the public.

What the newly released files reveal

The government released about 400,000 pages of previously sealed documents. These documents became available through an online database called “I Ask for My Brothers,” which contained 210,000 records about the children’s disappearance. The archive held personal files of missing children, hospital records, burial certificates, and testimony from previous investigations.

The documents revealed disturbing details about medical experiments on Yemenite children. Earlier investigations uncovered sworn testimony showing four undernourished babies died after receiving experimental protein injections. Doctors performed post-mortem examinations on children and buried them in mass graves, which went against Jewish tradition. Some cases showed children’s hearts were removed and given to U.S. doctors studying the rare occurrence of heart disease in Yemen.

Many families never got death certificates or autopsy findings for their children who supposedly died. The situation became more suspicious because many of the missing children received military draft notices when they would have turned 18.

Minister Hanegbi made a crucial statement after reviewing the documents: “They took the children and gave them away. I don’t know where.” He admitted that “hundreds” of children were taken without their parents knowing—this marked the first time a government official made such an admission.

How the files were kept secret for decades

These documents stayed hidden for decades under questionable circumstances, which made people more suspicious of the government’s intentions. The Cohen-Kedmi Committee, the third government commission to study the affair in 1995, ordered all testimony from its investigation to stay sealed until 2071 – a 70-year classification period.

This unusually long classification period led to rumors of a government cover-up and created more distrust between affected families and the state. Researchers and activists criticized the committee’s methods. One organization pointed out, “When there is no real suspicion, there is no real investigation”.

Getting these files declassified wasn’t easy. The State Archives and Justice Ministry had to work together, and the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee needed to approve it unanimously. Some materials stayed classified, especially adoption information that could reveal identities of adopted children, adoptive parents, or biological parents.

The historic declassification didn’t reveal everything. Documents from 1948 to 1954 became public, though one investigation committee found the affair continued until 1966. A state comptroller report in 2024 showed the Israel State Archives lost a computer with documents about the missing Yemenite children, which raised concerns that some information might stay hidden forever.

The missing children’s families keep pushing for complete transparency. Michael Sharabi, whose mother was told her infant son had died, spoke at a 2021 press conference: “We never spoke about monetary compensation; we asked for the truth to be revealed. We want them to open all the cases and hidden files, recognize the responsibility of the state, and apologize to the families for all the injustice”.

The Israeli Parliament responded to ongoing pressure by passing laws. These laws let families ask courts to order grave exhumations for DNA testing and request access to adoption files that only adopted children could see when they turned 18.

State Commissions Investigate Disappearances

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Israel set up three separate investigative commissions through the years to break down claims about the Yemenite Children Affair. Each commission had the task to find what happened to the missing children.

Findings of the Bahlul-Minkowski Committee

Public pressure pushed the Israeli government to launch its first official investigation in 1967—the Bahlul-Minkowski Committee. This inter-ministerial joint committee from the Departments of Justice and Police looked into 342 cases of disappeared children. The committee gathered testimonies and eyewitness accounts that showed 316 children had died. Only two children were adopted, while 24 cases remained inconclusive.

Reuven’s grandson, Eido Minkovsky, later posted on social media: “The Minkovsky-Bahlul Committee found the earth-rattling truth on the disappeared Yemenite children. They found over 300 dead!! For some reason that is not mentioned today when we know where they are, signed and marked”.

Poor record-keeping and chaotic conditions in the state’s early years caused the missing documentation, according to the committee’s conclusion. This dismissed claims of systematic kidnappings.

Shalgi and Kedmi Commissions’ conclusions

The Israeli government under Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir launched a second commission in 1988. People weren’t satisfied with the first committee’s findings. The Shalgi Commission worked for four years and received new evidence about 301 children. The commission ended up determining that 65 children’s fate remained unknown. All but one of these children had died.

Several Knesset members criticized the report right away. David Mena said, “The report doesn’t reflect the real picture of the Yemenite children’s disappearance”. Dov Shilansky, who watched over testimony given to the committee, disagreed with its findings publicly: “I personally believe, in contradiction to the Shalgi report, that there were more than a few cases of kidnapping of Yemenite babies”.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin set up the third and most complete investigation in 1995—the Cohen-Kedmi Commission. This commission studied more than 800 cases over seven years and released its findings in 2001. The commission found that:

• 750 children had died
• 42 children remained unaccounted for
• Records showed 972 of the 1,033 missing children were deceased
• Five missing babies turned up alive

Individual social workers might have handed over children for adoption in the 56 unresolved cases, the commission noted. However, this wasn’t part of any official policy. Claims of a state-sponsored or institutional conspiracy were rejected.

Why many families rejected the official reports

Several factors led to families’ distrust of the official findings. The Cohen-Kedmi Commission’s decision to seal all testimonies until 2071 sparked rumors of a government cover-up [47, 48].

Activist organizations pointed out flaws in the commissions’ methods. The investigations worked under “very problematic assumptions.” They failed to verify information, call key figures to testify, or look into missing archives. Critics said: “When there is no real suspicion, there is no real investigation”.

More than a thousand families gave similar accounts that contradicted the commissions’ findings. Medical staff would tell families their child was sick and take them away. Days later, they’d report the child’s death. Yet families never received death certificates or burial locations.

Officials’ dismissive treatment of Yemenite families made them reject the explanations. A legal scholar noted that the “real tragedy” was “the indifference and dismissiveness with which the Yemenite families have been treated”. Officials brushed off these families and treated them “as if they’re a thorn in somebody’s side”.

Two key archives about the affair were reportedly destroyed while the final committee worked. The committee accepted without question that the archives were destroyed “by mistake”.

Medical Institutions Face Scrutiny Over Child Deaths

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Medical misconduct stood at the heart of the Yemenite Children Affair, which cast a dark shadow over Israel’s healthcare institutions. Sworn testimony revealed disturbing practices that were way beyond the reach and influence of simple administrative negligence.

Allegations of medical negligence and experimentation

Medical institutions faced serious accusations about unauthorized experiments on Yemenite children. Four undernourished babies died after doctors gave them experimental protein injections. These deaths weren’t isolated cases – many children died because of widespread medical negligence.

The Health Ministry’s draft report, which officials tried to block from publication, showed that medical teams made decisions about children without telling parents or getting their consent. This document also admitted possible medical malpractice. Even though no legislation or ethics code existed at the time regarding autopsies and research, the conduct raised “ethical and social questions regarding medical personnel”.

A disturbing case showed how doctors removed children’s hearts and gave them to American researchers who studied the near absence of heart disease in Yemen. Former Knesset committee chair Nurit Koren put it bluntly: “It’s a big scandal that the doctors didn’t tell the parents they were doing experiments and research on their children. And even worse there are healthy babies who died from an experimental treatment. It’s a crime, it was on purpose, and it led to their death”.

Testimonies from nurses and hospital staff

Nurses’ testimonies provided compelling evidence of systematic wrongdoing. Sonia Milshtein, a former senior nurse, showed her prejudice by claiming that Yemenite parents “were not interested in their children” and should have been happy that their “child got a good education”.

Sarah Pearl, head nurse at the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), shared a similar bias. When she asked why children’s parents never visited, administrators told her that families “have lots of kids, and lots of problems, so they don’t want their children”.

Student caregiver Shoshana Shacham described a heartbreaking scene at the Rosh Haayin transit camp: “We saw cars arriving. People got out… and the nurses dealt with them. We saw these people putting the babies in their cars.” Her questions about the children’s destination were met with: “We’re improving their situation… transferring them to families where they have a better chance of staying alive”.

Hanna Gibori, who led adoption services in northern Israel, confirmed that “Hospital physicians handed over babies for adoption straight out of the hospital, without the official adoption agencies being involved”. A nurse from Batar hospital in Haifa admitted on Israeli television that prospective parents would “place an order” for children with the hospital.

Violation of Jewish burial traditions

Families suffered deeply from the disregard of Jewish burial customs. Doctors performed post-mortem examinations on children and buried them in mass graves, violating Jewish tradition. Parents learned about their children’s deaths without seeing the body, death certificate, or grave.

Yigal Yosef, former mayor of Rosh Haayin, remembered when his 6-month-old sister Esther went to the hospital with a cold. The family later heard she had died and was already buried. He recalled being with his mother at Rambam Hospital as she screamed, “Bring me my daughter!” before security forced them out without ever seeing the body.

Hospitals often used poor hygiene and widespread disease as reasons to quarantine children. Staff kept parents away from their children, claiming they feared disease spread. When babies died, hospital staff buried them quickly without waiting for parents, blaming poor communication and limited resources for preserving bodies.

The health ministry’s hidden draft report suggested that the ministry “take action to promote an apology on behalf of the health system for the involvement of medical professionals in this affair”. Yet for many families, these gestures can’t heal decades of trauma and unanswered questions.

DNA Testing Confirms and Refutes Family Claims

DNA technology advances have opened a new chapter in the Yemenite Children Affair. Families now have scientific tools to find answers without relying on government investigations.

How DNA testing is helping families find answers

Genealogy companies have stepped up to help families get closure over the last several years. MyHeritage, a prominent DNA testing company, started giving free tests to parents and children who think they might be connected to the affair. This service has become crucial as DNA matching helps reunite family members who were once declared dead as infants.

DNA testing led to a touching reunion when Varda Fuchs, adopted by a German-Jewish couple in Israel, found her biological sister. Ms. Mazor’s mother never believed the nurses who said her child had died. At age 23, Yehuda Cantor found out he was adopted and joined hundreds of others who gave DNA samples to find their biological relatives. “In those days, people didn’t talk about it. It was hidden. It was a secret,” Cantor explained.

Gil Grunbaum learned about his adoption at 38 and tracked down his biological mother – a Tunisian immigrant who was told her son died during childbirth in 1956.

The case of Yosef Melamed and its significance

September 2022 brought a breakthrough when authorities announced a “full match” between DNA from grave remains and Yosef Melamed’s family’s genetic profile. Israeli authorities successfully created a genetic profile from opened grave remains for the first time.

Tests showed the remains were 97.8% likely to be from Melamed’s sister Ruth Sharabi’s sibling, and 99.99% likely to be Shulamit Melamed’s son. This proved the child died from disease rather than being kidnapped as the family suspected.

Shulamit Melamed, now in her 90s, believed her son was dead until 1963. She asked the Interior Ministry after receiving his army conscription notice and got a document saying her son had “left” the country that year. This led her to believe for decades that someone had kidnapped and adopted him.

Challenges in exhuming graves and verifying identities

DNA verification remains complex. Scientists couldn’t get conclusive results from 10 graves they dug up 25 years ago because the technology wasn’t advanced enough. Technology now lets us identify complete profiles from limited and damaged DNA samples typically found in long-buried remains.

Israeli lawmakers passed legislation that lets families ask courts to order grave exhumations. Dr. Nurit Bublil, who leads the DNA testing lab, said: “There are 17 families we have heard about through the media, but there are probably many more – even hundreds”.

Melamed’s case gave one family answers but didn’t solve all the affair’s mysteries. Each case needs its own investigation, and families must deal with the emotional weight of asking to dig up their loved ones’ supposed graves.

Government Admits Partial Responsibility and Offers Compensation

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The Israeli government made a historic change in February 2021. They acknowledged their role in the Yemenite Children Affair after denying it for more than 70 years. The cabinet approved a groundbreaking compensation plan to help families whose children disappeared during the state’s early years.

Official apology and financial redress

Rather than offering a complete apology, the Israeli government chose to “express regret” and “recognize the suffering of the families”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “among the most painful affairs in the history of the State of Israel.” He added that “the time has come that the families whose babies were taken from them receive recognition from the state”. The government allocated NIS 162 million (approximately $50 million) in total compensation. Families received NIS 150,000 ($45,000) if their child’s death was disclosed without proper notification or burial details. The amount increased to NIS 200,000 ($60,000) for families who still don’t know their children’s fate.

Eligibility criteria and public reaction

The compensation applied only to 1,050 families whose cases had been reviewed by one of the three state investigative committees. People needed to submit applications between June 1 and November 30, 2021. A major issue emerged during this process. Families had to sign a waiver giving up all future legal claims about the affair. Critics said this requirement aimed to silence affected families. Many parents felt frustrated because money was never their main goal. Michael Sharabi expressed this sentiment: “We never spoke about monetary compensation; we asked for the truth to be revealed”.

Criticism from activist groups

Of course, advocacy organizations found the government’s approach inadequate. Amram Association, which represents about 800 affected families, pointed out the absence of “the most important component in the process of taking responsibility—an official apology from the state”. The group highlighted that the decision “was made without dialog with the families and associations active on the issue”. Rafi Shubeli from Forum Achai accused the government of “imposing a solution on the families and failing to accept responsibility”. His organization opposed the restrictive criteria, noting that many families never approached the committees “out of distrust of the establishment”. Activists still want the government to release all documents related to the affair.

Historians Debate Systemic Racism and Adoption Allegations

The Yemenite Children Affair has created deep divisions among historians and scholars. Debates center on whether racism in institutions shaped Israel’s early years and led to taking children away from Mizrahi families.

Did a plan exist to integrate Yemenite children?

Different historical views shape this heated debate. Historian Tom Segev, who testified as an expert witness during a government investigation, believes most disappearances happened because of chaos during mass immigration rather than a planned effort. “All these people came in very, very difficult conditions and it’s a story of chaos,” Segev explains, with child death rates reaching 50%. Critics highlight evidence that suggests planned removals. Dr. Yosef Yisraeli saw “a policy of transferring hundreds of children from hospitals to group homes nowhere near their homes and then giving them up for adoption”.

Israel saw around 6,000 to 10,000 adoptions between 1948 and 1960, with all but one of these adoptions questioned as legitimate. The system had little oversight, as Justice Shneur Zalman Cheshin pointed out in 1955: “To our embarrassment, fictitious adoption orders and custodial orders are issued weekly, indeed daily”.

Similar cases of child removal worldwide

Researchers now see the Yemenite Children Affair as part of a wider global trend where marginalized communities lost their children. Naama Katiee points to similar cases in Australia where officials took Aboriginal children from families, and Canada’s “Sixties Scoop” that separated Indigenous children from their communities. These examples show what Katiee calls “a quickest way of raising a new generation by separating, and by cutting off the connection to their origins”.

Ashkenazi elite’s influence on early Israeli society

The dominant role of Ashkenazi Jews in early Israeli society drove these events. Israel’s founders, mostly European Jews, “expressed fears that Mizrahi Jews brought with them a backwards ‘Oriental’ culture that might damage the new state”. This viewpoint labeled Yemenite parents as unsuitable to raise their children.

Archives show how people looked down on Yemenite immigrants. A 1951 Pioneer Women of America’s film shows Ashkenazi social workers teaching Yemenite women about hygiene and childcare. The narrator describes these mothers as “unclean, helpless, and dangerous in their simplicity”. WIZO and similar groups portrayed Yemenite children as “half orphans” with unfit mothers. Baby homes in immigrant camps became places where officials separated children from their parents, claiming families couldn’t provide proper care.

The Yemenite Children Affair stands without doubt as one of the darkest chapters in Israeli history. Affected families managed to keep their stories consistent over decades. They spoke of their children disappearing after hospital visits. Official explanations blamed poor record-keeping during times of chaos. Notwithstanding that, declassified documents exposed disturbing practices. These included unauthorized medical experiments, violations of Jewish burial traditions, and questionable adoption procedures.

Government commissions dating back to 1967 concluded most children died from illness. Critics highlighted major flaws in these investigations. The 70-year classification period on testimonies raised suspicions of a cover-up. A breakthrough came in 2016 with the release of 400,000 sealed documents. This confirmed many allegations and led to the government’s first admission that hundreds of children were taken without their parents’ consent.

DNA testing brought closure to some families. Yosef Melamed’s case proved particularly notable when genetic matching identified his remains. Hundreds of cases still lack answers. The government took a step forward in 2021 by expressing regret and offering financial compensation. This progress came without a full apology or admission of systematic wrongdoing.

Historians debate whether institutional racism or chaotic conditions caused these events. Whatever the cause, this affair mirrors other global cases of child removals from marginalized communities. The Yemenite Children Affair teaches us that healing requires acknowledging past wrongs, facing hard truths openly, and working to mend historical wounds. Some questions might remain unanswered. Yet the search for truth proves the unbreakable bond between parents and their children, a connection that exceeds decades of uncertainty and pain.

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