
A young mother who suffers from a mental illness was removed from Israel during her pregnancy in order to allow her baby to be sold in an illegal adoption, News 13 reported Wednesday.
The Nazareth Magistrates Court, which is dealing with the case, found that in 2016, the young woman's state-appointed guardian brought her to a haredi community abroad. Her passport was taken from her, and after she gave birth, businessmen from the haredi community worked to give the baby to a childless haredi couple for adoption.
According to News 13, the young woman was hidden and in a severe mental state, and she was even hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.
During that entire period, her partner's family searched for her, reported her missing, and demanded the authorities investigate whether she was removed from the country.
After approximately ten months, the young woman contacted her partner's family, who brought her back to Israel. None of them had any information regarding what had happened to the baby.
A police investigation was opened in 2017 by the Northern District's central office. Four months ago, new developments resulted in the arrest of several central suspects: the "rebbetzin" who removed the young woman from Israel, a haredi philanthropist and businessman who initiated and aided the illegal adoption process, a relative of the adoptive parents who also serves as their lawyer, and the adoptive parents themselves, who have been raising the child in Israel for approximately three years. All of the suspects were released under limiting conditions.
There is a gag order on most details of the case. A senior source involved told News 13: "The State of Israel has never seen a case like this. For the first time, an indictment will be filed for the crime of kidnapping in order to sell a fetus."