Accusations that State of Israel institutions kidnapped Yemenite children for adoption purposes are not true. This is the final determination of the Public Commission of Inquiry established in the wake of claims of wrongdoing surrounding the disappearance of close to 1,000 children between the years 1948 and 1954. The report was released today. The commission, headed by retired Justice Yaakov Kedmi, found that the source of the claim that the children were abducted lies in the fact that many Yemenite immigrant parents were not informed that their children had passed away, nor did they receive notification of their burial sites.
The committee looked into some 800 cases and found that over 750 children had died, but admitted it could not solve the \"mystery\" of 56 cases. It is likely that some of them were in fact given up for adoption by social workers, according to the committee\'s findings. The committee blamed the Jewish Agency for not establishing a body that would coordinate between parents and hospitals and pass information between them. This was the third body to look into the matter of the Yemenite Children.
MK Rabbi Aryeh Gamliel (Shas) was strongly critical of the findings: \"The committee betrayed its mandate most gravely, and is a partner in the official whitewash of this scandal. That which happened then [50 years ago] and that which is going on now with this committee is \'organized crime\' of the establishment... Some of the children most likely died, but most of them were abducted and given over for adoption... If the committee had any integrity, it would have questioned the adoptive parents and asked how they received the children...\"
The committee looked into some 800 cases and found that over 750 children had died, but admitted it could not solve the \"mystery\" of 56 cases. It is likely that some of them were in fact given up for adoption by social workers, according to the committee\'s findings. The committee blamed the Jewish Agency for not establishing a body that would coordinate between parents and hospitals and pass information between them. This was the third body to look into the matter of the Yemenite Children.
MK Rabbi Aryeh Gamliel (Shas) was strongly critical of the findings: \"The committee betrayed its mandate most gravely, and is a partner in the official whitewash of this scandal. That which happened then [50 years ago] and that which is going on now with this committee is \'organized crime\' of the establishment... Some of the children most likely died, but most of them were abducted and given over for adoption... If the committee had any integrity, it would have questioned the adoptive parents and asked how they received the children...\"