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