R&B NEWS SERVICE:
"THE CASE OF THE MISSING CHILDREN - PART ONE"
 
by Yechiel A. Mann
 
HAIFA, December 15, 1997, Root & Branch:
 
photos
Monday, October 13, 1997, was a suspenseful day at Beit Agron, the Government press center in Jerusalem,
where the official Government committee investigating the disappearance of Yemenite and other Jewish children in the years 1948-1954 conducts weekly hearings each Monday.
 
Mrs. Sarah Leicht was the first person to testify. She worked as a nurse
at a WIZO child-care center in Tev Aviv in 1950. There, Sarah received
on-the-job training as a nurse while caring for children each day from the
morning until 2-3 P.M. The WIZO center was called "The Institute for Care
of Mother and Child." Mrs. Leicht said that the Institute was, in fact, an
adoption center. She stated that the director of the Institute was Mrs.
Ravina Kish, while the assistant director was a Mrs. Barbash. The staff
doctor was a Mrs. Shapira.
 
The children they took care of at the Institute were usually between the
ages of one day and 2 years. After they reached the age of two, the
children were moved into an infant care center, run by a Mrs. Releh.
 
Mrs. Leicht showed the Government committee a photo of herself and one of the children for whom she cared. She especially remembers this child,
named Dervish, as she loved him very much. She gave the committee a copy of the photo.
After her hearing I asked Mrs. Leicht to show me the original photo. I
examined this and other photos of the WIZO Institute. It appeared to me
that this "institute" was one of many that took stolen children, sold them,
and classified the transactions as "adoption."
 
Mrs. Leicht recalled the day when Dervish was given to a Polish Jewish
family from Jaffa. The caretakers and nurses at the Institute were told
not to attempt any contact
with Dervish, or his new parents, in case they saw them in the streets, as
they worked in Tel-Aviv, and Dervish was adopted to a family in Jaffa.
Mrs. Leicht searched for
Dervish amongst the babies she saw on the streets, but she never saw
Dervish again.
 
Mrs. Leicht was asked if she recalled any babies dying during their stay in
the Wizo Institute. She said "no", even though she did recall an isolated
case where they found a one day old baby in a dumpster. This was extremely
unusual, she said, as she remembered the care for the babies at the
Institute as being wonderful and warm.
 
Mr. Dachbash Salah and his family, of Yeminite origin, were the second
person to testify. Their daughter Zarah was taken from them in the Rosh
HaAyin immigrant camp. Mr. Dachbash recalled that their entire family was
taken directly from the plane to the Rosh HaAyin camp. Two weeks after
they arrived at the camp, Zarah was separated from the family and taken to
some sort of "baby house" inside the camp. Zarah was two years old at the
time and had just finished breast feeding.
 
The Salah family loved Zarah. They visited her every day in the "baby
house" for at least two weeks. One day the Salahs were invited to
Dachbash's aunt in Ramat Gan for the weekend. The aunt and her family had
already been in Israel for some time before the Dachbash's arrived from Yemen.
 
When Dachbash and his family returned to the immigrant camp from their
visit to Ramat Gan they went to visit Zarah at the "baby house," where they
were told she had died.
 
Dachbash said that he asked the "baby house" staff when Zarah died, and
they told him that she died on Friday. He had seen his daughter on Friday
morning, and she seemed fine. He asked them what was the precise cause and
time of Zarah's death. The staff had no answer for him.
 
Dachbash has searched in vain for Zarah's grave for almost 50 years, with
no results. Zarah's I.D. number was given in the committee - 1054761.
Zarah was the third child in the family.
 
Dachbash's oldest daughter, Leah, also testified. She was 9 or 10 years
old when Zarah was taken from them. Lead said that they lived in a tent,
while Zarah was taken to a building which served as the infant center. She
said that they visited Zarah every day, even on the Friday when she was
taken from them. Leah remembered seeing Zarah that morning, healthy and
happy. Lead was sure that Zarah was healthy and looked good.
 
Mrs. Yehudit Veintrop, case number 68/97, was the third person to testify.
Mrs. Veintrop came to Israel from Poland, and her husband came from
Bulgaria. On December 1, 1951, their son Eliezer was born. When he was
eight days old, Eliezer was circumcised. A few days later he developed a
minor cough. The Veintrops called a doctor to look at Eliezer. The doctor
told them that Eliezer was completely healthy.
 
Afterwards, another doctor came to look at Eliezer, and told the Veintrops
that he must be taken to a hospital. Eliezer was taken to Hadassah
Hospital. When Mr. Veintrop went to see Eliezer the next day, he was told
that Eliezer had died.
 
Mrs. Veintrop husband was the fourth person to testify. He remembered that
Elizer was placed in the children's war of Hadassah Hospital on Balfour St.
When Mr. Veintrop came to see Eliezer the next day, a nurse told him that
Eliezer had died and would be buried the next day in the Givat Shaul
cemetary. Mr. Veintrop asked to see Eliezer's body on the spot, but the
nurse told him that there was nothing to see.
 
The next day, Mr. Veintrop went to the Givat Shaul cemetary and asked to
see Eliezer's grave. He was told that according to Jewish law a child
under the age of 30 days is not buried individually. Eliezer was 21 days
old when he "died." Mr. Veintrop said that he went to the Hospital the day
before at 10 A.M., when he was told Eliezer was dead. Mr. Veintrop said
that Eliezer only had a cold. At no point did the Veintrops receive a
death certificate or any documentation about Eliezer.
 
Rabbi Menachem Porush, case number 102/97 was the fifth person to testify.
During the period when the children disappeared, Rabbi Porush was Secretary
of the Agudat Israel Party. Agudat Israel held the Welfare Ministry
portfolio in the Ben-Gurion government.
 
Rabbi Porush said that he discussed the disappearance of the children with
Ben-Gurion. Ben Gurion said that he knew nothing about this and asked
Porush for proof.
 
At this point in Rabbi Porush's testimony, a man attending the Government
committee hearing yelled at Rabbi Porush, demanding that he reveal all that
he knows. A guard asked the man to leave the hearing room. At this point
the man became even more furious, and yelled at the guard, telling the
guard that he was a police officer and knew his job better than did the
guard. The argument between the man and the guard became violent when the
guard tried to forcibly remove the man from the hearing room. Other guards
came to assist in evicting this man and the entire press contingent
followed them out of the hearing room.
 
Rabbi Porush resumed testifying before the committee. The committee
chairman , retired Supreme Court Judge Yehuda Cohen, criticised Rabbi
Porush for failing to provide enough specific facts. Judge Cohen said that
he had hoped Rabbi Porush would provide some details about the case, and
that he was disappointed when Rabbi Porush failed to do so.
 
Another observer, Mr. Yinon Gispan, also began to yell at the committee,
claiming that they were engaged in a cover-up. Mr. Gispan angrily left the
hearing room, and called upon everyone who agreed with him to leave as
well. Half of the audience got up and walked out with Mr. Gispan, with
most of the media following them as well.
 
As Rabbi Porush continued his testimony, it was alleged that Arutz 2
reporter Matti Cohen had said that Rabbi Porush gave him names of people
involved in the case, off the record, but that Rabbi Porush was afraid to
reveal the names of the people publicly. As discussion on this continued,
a woman in the audience stood up and said calmly, "Matti Cohen is right
here. Why argue about it when you can just ask Matti Cohen?"
 
A guard removed this woman from the hearing room as well. She did not put
up a struggle. Less than a minute later, the committee called upon Matti
Cohen to testified. Mr. Cohen said that he had blown Rabbi Porush's words
out of proportion. He claimed that Rabbi Porush had only said that some of
the people in positions of power at the time were still alive and that the
committee should also call them to testify, in case these people have
information that the committee is not yet aware of.
 
Matti Cohen told the committee that he would give them a tape recording of
his entire 19 minutes discussion with Rabbi Porush following the hearing.
 
The discussion in question between Matti Cohen and Rabbi took place during
a press conference given by "Mishkan Ohalim," Yeminite Rabbi Uzi Meshulam's
organization, at the Central Hotel in Jerusalem, owned by former Agudat
Israel Knesset member Avraham Shapira. Most of the mainstream Israeli
media attended the press conference, as well as did Knesset Members Rabbi
Benny Elon (Moledet) and Motti Zandberg (Tsomet).
 
Also present was Rabbi Yaakov Silvani of "Mishkan Ohalim." Rabbi Silvani
noted a dozen individual cases where lost children found their families.
In each case, the Government committee sent the children and families a
"case closed" letter without revealing this to the press or public. One
cased involved a man named Uri Vachtel, who addressed the press conference
by phone from abroad. Vachtel was scheduled to visit Israel after Succot.
 
Mr. Vachtel was born Paltiel Ben-Tov in the Ein-Shemer Wizo Institute.
Paltiel was stolen from his parents, renamed "Uri," and given for adoption
by the Wizo institute to the Vachtel family. Uri was moved to the Wizo
Institute from the Atlit immigration camp, where his parents were living at
the time. Another boy named Chaim was also moved with him from the Atlit
camp to the WIZO Instiute.
 
Uri said he would undergo D.N.A. tests in the United States before coming
to Israel. The first lawyer to deal with the Vachtel case was Yaakov Harrari.
 
Also brought up at the press conference was the issue of blank birth and
death certificates that had been signed by the Interior Ministry. The
certificates were found with Yehudit Hivner, a retired high-ranking
Interior Ministry official.
 
An article about the blank birth and death certificates appeared in the
June 13, 1996 edition of "Yediot Acharonot." In the article, "Hivner was
asked to explain how, after the census of 1962, the Interior Ministry sent
hundreds of letters to the families of the missing Yemenite children,
telling them that their dear ones have 'left the country.' Brigadier
General David Maimon even presented to her two conflicting certificates,
one of them saying that a child named Joseph Cohen died on November 26,
1951, and the second, that the same child left Israel in 1962."
 
There are many instances where certificates contradict one another. I have
personally reviewed hundreds of the certificates myself. Hivner was only
one of several people asked about these contradictions. Their response was
uniformly the same.
 
"...In many cases, the names of the biological parents of children who were
adopted in the '50s weren't even known. This fact comes from the terrible
mess the records of children, who were taken to Hospitals, were in. When
the children healed, their identity was not known, and so there was no
possibility to return them to their parents."
 
I ask my readers to note this claim that there was 'confusion in the
documentation.' It is a key argument that forms an essential part of the
official cover-up on this question. Keep it in mind, for we will return to
this point as our investigation continues.
 
I will give Mrs. Hivner credit for one revealing admission, as recorded in
the Yediot Aharonot article. "These children were taken to institutes and
kibbutzim, and many were given out to adoption. Hivner pointed out that the
adopting parents 'not only changed the childrens' names, but also their
I.D. numbers, so they will not be able to be found".
 
To be continued.
 
 
Yechiel Mann,
Haifa, Israel
 
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Yechiel Mann is a high school student in Haifa and an investigative

reporter for the Root & Branch News Service