Yemeni Children Kidnapping Allegations and Government Investigations Unveiled

Title: Decades-Long Mystery of Missing Yemeni Children in Israel: Files Partially Declassified
Since the 1950s, over a thousand families, predominantly Yemeni immigrants, have claimed that their children were abducted from hospitals and illegally adopted. The Israeli government, in response, established three investigative committees spanning several years, the latest in 2001, to probe these allegations. These committees concluded that the majority of the missing children had passed away in hospitals and were buried without the families’ knowledge, a finding that has done little to quell the anguish and skepticism of the affected families.
The controversy reignited last year when organizations representing these families pushed for the declassification of the investigation files, arguing against the necessity for secrecy. The legal challenge centered on the balance between the public’s right to information and the protection of individual privacy, particularly concerning adoption records, which are stringently protected under Israeli law. This legal framework has thus far prevented the full disclosure of adoption-related information without explicit court authorization.
The partially revealed records, now available in Hebrew, expose the profound personal tragedies experienced by families of the missing children and depict a narrative of bureaucratic indifference and inefficiency. Critics of the continued classification argue that the withholding of information is a misinterpretation of privacy regulations.
A significant revelation from the declassified documents is the testimony of Amos Manor, the former head of Israel’s security agency, who in 1998 testified before the Cohen-Kedmi Committee. Manor characterized the early Israeli security service as rudimentary but was firm in his assertion that any organized effort to disappear Yemeni children in the early ’50s, a time when Israel’s population barely exceeded 1.2 million, would have been conspicuous.
Furthermore, the archive made the decision to exclude detailed autopsy reports from public view, though it allows family members full access to these and other redacted documents concerning their missing relatives.
This partial declassification has shed light on a painful chapter in Israel’s history, yet the decision to withhold certain details continues to fuel debates over transparency, privacy, and the government’s role in addressing historical grievances.