If true, this can only be described as Obscene. Cruel and heartless
disregard of people, regardless of any attempt to justify it.
When such behavior is conducted or even approved by Government, it
raises the question, How much secrecy will the People tolerate.
Abusing the People's trust demands open disclosure of all Government
activities. If such disregard of human rights are tolerated within a
nation's borders, how can the citizens trust their governments
treatment of the rights of people in other nations?
But we need not look to Israel for examples of government secrecy and
hidden disregard of people's rights. We have an even bigger problem
right under our American noses.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/27/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Speaking of Nazism!
Miriam
Mondoweiss
Thousands in Jerusalem protest abduction of Yemenite babies following
disclosure some were experimented on
Shiraz Grinbaum and Yotam Ronenon June 26, 201726 Comments
The surviving relatives of Yemenite Jewish children that families says were
abducted by staff at state-run medical facilities and illicitly sold into
adoption protest in Jerusalem. The demonstrators called for the Israeli
government to investigate the alleged systematic kidnappings known as the
Yemenite Children Affair, June 21, 2017. (Photo: Shiraz Grinbaum and Yotam
Ronen / Activestills.org)
Over 2,000 Israeli Yemenite Jews and supporting activists gathered in
Jerusalem last Wednesday to mark an annual day of awareness for what
families say was a state-sponsored program to abduct Yemenite Jewish infants
and other Israeli children born to parents who were recent immigrants from
Arab countries.
Known as the Yemenite Children Affair, in the first decade after the
establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, there was a systematic
kidnapping of newborn Yemenite children, carried out by Israeli hospitals
and government institutions. Mothers, who often were in Israel for a short
time and did not speak Hebrew, would enter hospitals or other state
facilities to give birth. Once the child was born medical staff told the
parents the child died unexpectedly. Yet none of the families were shown
bodies or burial documents. Many of the families did not practice any
mourning ceremonies because they believed their missing children were still
alive.
The babies who went missing, parents claim, were given away to childless
Ashkenazi families (Jews of European descent–the dominant ethnic group in
Israel at the time), leaving the Yemenite families with no answers regarding
their children’s fate. In most cases, the families were told the children
died unexpectedly.
There have been a few national state committees tasked with investigating
the matter over the decades, but they were previously accused of ignoring
real evidence and helping government efforts to cover up the affair.
Following recent pressure by the third generation of Jewish Yemenite
activists, part of the national archives and state protocols were disclosed
to the public.
Last year Benjamin Netanyahu had more than 3,500 government files on the
investigation into the disappearance of the childrenpublished online. A
Knesset committee followed up by confirming earlier this month that Yemenite
babies died during the 1950s after state medical institutions conducted
experiments on them. Despite the disclosures, the families are still in the
dark regarding their relatives, and the matter is still an open wound in the
Israeli society.
Seeking more answers, the Israeli nonprofit Amram organized the protest in
Jerusalem last week under the title “Recognition, Justice, Healing,” calling
on the government to open all of the national archives, which could allow
for family reunification. The demonstrators also want the affair recognized
as a crime against humanity.
This was the largest protest on the topic in the history of Israel to date.
