Israeli Health Ministry Committee on Yemenite Children Case Closed Without Findings

The Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that a committee formed by Israel’s Ministry of Health to examine the involvement of medical institutions in the disappearance of Yemenite, Mizrahi, and Balkan children in the early years of the state was shut down without issuing conclusions or informing the public.

Tom Mehager, director of the Amram Association—which campaigns for official recognition of the case—said: “Before the committee was formed, we met with representatives from the Shas party who assured us it was serious. But it turned out to have been closed without achieving anything of value, meaning the cover-up is complete.”

The disclosure coincides with the observance of “Yemenite Children Awareness Day.” The committee was established in May 2023 by then-Health Minister Moshe Arbel to formally investigate the health system’s role in the disappearance of thousands of children. It was chaired by retired judge Shulamit Dotan and included professors Shlomo Mor-Yosef and Yaakov Margalit. Its creation followed protests over the freezing of a 2021 draft internal report that concluded the Israeli health system had actively participated in practices described as racist.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, that frozen report contained testimonies about medical experiments and autopsies conducted on children without parental consent, the separation of healthy children from their families in immigrant absorption centers for adoption, and false notifications of child deaths. The report recommended that the Health Ministry issue a formal apology to affected families.

The new committee, however, ceased work after only a few meetings, with no official announcement or publication of results. Knesset Health Committee chairman Yoni Mashriki said the body had not been formally dissolved and pledged to continue pressing for its findings to be released.

Professor Itamar Grotto criticized the ministry’s handling of the issue, saying there was an attempt to “sweep the case under the rug.” He insisted that the 2021 report’s conclusions remain valid, stressing that the core problem lies in systemic racist behavior within the health establishment toward immigrants, and ignoring this reality perpetuates the injustice.