Yemenite Jews flee their homes
Yemenite Jews flee their homesKluger Zoltan/Public Domain

The recent publication online of records related to Yemenite children who had gone missing in the early years of the State has led to a new turn of events: Ami Meshulam, the son of former activist Rabbi Uzi Meshulam who, in the 1990s demanded an investigation into the fate of the missing Yemenite children, has set out on a mission to completely clear his father’s name.

Rabbi Meshulam had a long history of fighting to uncover the government’s role in the disappearance of the Yemenite babies that were born to the new immigrants in the early years of the State.

As his movement gained momentum, government resistance increased. In 1994, Police forces and snipers surrounded Rabbi Meshulam’s house and, several weeks later, stormed it, arresting 11 of Meshulam’s followers and killing one, 19 year-old Shlomo Asulin.

As a result of the standoff with police, Rabbi Meshulam was sentenced to prison. He was sentenced to eight years, but was acquitted of one of the offenses and the sentence was reduced to six and a half years, out of which he served five after then-President Ezer Weizman deducted seven months from his sentence.

Upon his release, he remained bedridden, a total invalid.

Rabbi Meshulam’s family has claimed throughout the years that the Israeli establishment was deliberately harassing him in an attempt to squelch his demand to establish a commission of inquiry into the disappearance of the children and take it off the public agenda.

According to family members and supporters, including the rabbi’s son Ami, Meshulam had been poisoned in prison. This, they say, is what led to his permanent disabilities and eventual death.

Last night, some of Rabbi Meshulam’s former followers protested at the Shilat Junction near Modi’in.

Ami Meshulam said that the purpose of the protest was to clear his father’s name. “I want to go to Jerusalem and protest before the Knesset with only one request: either the State condemns Rabbi Uzi or admits that he was right. Enough of the shallow and deceitful apologies,” he said, according to Yisrael Hayom.

Ami Meshulam said that he does not intend to cause provocation, but will protest legally for an undefined period of time.

“If they decide to stop me when I committed no crime, you will bear witness to the fact that the silencing [of opinions] is continuing,” he said.