JERUSALEM (AP) – The Israeli government on Monday approved a plan to offer $ 50 million in compensation to the families of hundreds of Yemeni children who disappeared in the early years of the country’s settlement.
But the announcement received a cool reception from advocacy groups who said the government had not apologized or accepted responsibility for the case.
Stories about the missing children have been circulating in Israel for years. Hundreds of newborn babies and young children of Jewish immigrants from Arab and Balkan countries, most of them from Yemen, mysteriously disappeared shortly after arriving in the country.
Many families believe that their children have been taken away and given to childless couples from European backgrounds, both in Israel and abroad. Although previous investigations have rejected claims of mass kidnappings, the suspicion has lingered and contributed to a long-running feud between Jews of European descent and those of the Middle Eastern background.
“This is one of the most painful cases in the history of the state of Israel,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The time has come for the families whose babies have been taken away from them to receive recognition from the state and government of Israel, as well as financial compensation.”
Arriving from Arab-speaking countries in the Middle East and North Africa after the founding of Israel in 1948, many Mizrahi, or Middle Eastern, immigrants were sent to transit camps in the coastal cities and largely by the European, or Ashkenazi, leaders of the founding party of Labor, abolished. This painful experience has contributed to Mizrahi’s widespread support for the Likud party, now led by Netanyahu.
Among the immigrants were more than 50,000 Yemeni Jews, often poor and with large families. In the chaos that accompanied their influx, some children died while others were separated from their parents.
But many believe that the reality was very sinister that the children abducted these children to be adopted by Ashkenazi families in the belief that they could give a better life. In later years, families reportedly sent military consignments and other documents by mail to their alleged ‘dead’ children, raising more suspicions.
Three high-profile commissions rejected the allegations and found that most children died of disease in immigration camps. The last one, in 2001, said that it is possible that children were adopted by individual social workers, but not as part of a national conspiracy. With reference to privacy laws, however, it ordered that the evidence it collected should be sealed for 70 years.
Under Monday’s decision, the government will pay 150,000 shekels, or $ 45,000, to families in cases where a child has been found dead but the family has not been properly notified or where the burial site has not been found. .
Families where the fate of the child is unknown will receive 200,000 shekels or about $ 60,000.
In a statement, the government said it “regrets” and “acknowledges the suffering of the families”. But activist groups have said the decision is not far enough.
Amram, an advocacy group that gathered evidence from about 800 families affected, said the decision did not include an apology and was reached without proper discussion with the families.
“Without this component, a process of correction and healing is not possible,” he said. “Amram repeatedly demands that the state of Israel take responsibility for the serious injustice.”
Rafi Shubeli of ‘Forum Achai’, an advocacy group representing dozens of families, accused the government of imposing a solution on the families and not accepting responsibility or saying who caused their suffering.
He also said that families who have not yet filed claims would not be able to claim compensation and accused the government of refusing to release documents regarding the case.
“Our struggle will continue,” he said. “This case is not going away.”