The government's decision to compensate Yemenite families whose children were displaced in Israel's early days years deserves much praise. It is a long-overdue and crucial step to recognize these families' suffering and alleviate three generations of pain.
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At the very heart of this affair lies a dreadful tragedy. The number of infants who died in kibbutzim at the outset of the state stood at 17 per 1,000 births, while in transit camps, where most Yemenite immigrants were sent upon arriving in Israel, that number stood at 117.
"Children died left and right," then-Prime Minister David Ben Gurion wrote in his journal. Nevertheless, the state continued its efforts to bring as many Jews to Israel as possible.
Three state commissions of inquiry committees were established throughout the years to address the children's affair, and each one confirmed that the discriminative attitude towards new immigrants that was prevalent in the early days of the state manifested itself, among other things, in the fact that medical staff did not bother to inform parents about their children's deaths.
Parents were present neither at the burial of children nor when the death certificates were issued.
Even worse, there are concerns that medical teams were complicit in the kidnapping of these children – putting them up for adoption in exchange for hefty payments.
In 2019, the Supreme Court confirmed that those disappearances were not unrelated but were part of a discernable pattern that raises suspicions regarding the state's conduct on the matter.
Seventy years after establishing our state, the Yemenite children's affair remains an open wound in our society.
Besides compensating these families, the government should also set up a public committee to determine the proper ways to commemorate the missing children by establishing a monument or a synagogue in their memory in a major Israeli city and name streets, squares, and public institutions after them.
In addition, the government must establish a state-funded research institute that would document the Yemenite children's affair, with psychologists and social workers listening and documenting the pain of these families. Enough with the legal testimonies in front of state committees.
These families are seeking healing, and we owe them so. The government is on the right path to healing their wounds.
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