Yemenite children's affair

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat being interviewed by Uri Avnery in west Beirut. (Photo by Anat Saragusti, courtesy of Uri Avnery)

Veteran left-wing journalist and peace activist Uri Avnery dies at 94

Avnery, who helped expose some of the darkest chapters in Israeli history and was a fervent opponent of the occupation, inspired generations of Israeli journalists. By +972 Magazine Staff Uri Avnery, one of Israel’s most prominent journalists and a seminal peace activist who was among the first Israelis to advocate for a sovereign Palestinian state, died…

By +972 Magazine August 20, 2018

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Marc Israel Sellem/GPO)

Benjamin Netanyahu is a fake supporter of democracy

Israel’s prime minister wants Iranian protesters to know they have his full support in their struggle against their government. The same can’t be said about millions of people under his own government’s rule. Benjamin Netanyahu likes to present himself as a fervent supporter of democracy and pro-democracy protests. In fact he is a very selective…

By Edo Konrad June 29, 2018

A demonstrator delivers a speech during a protest to recognize the Yemenite Children's Affair, Tel Aviv, September 25, 2017. (Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org)

Hundreds protest to recognize the disappearance of Yemenite children

Hundreds block central Tel Aviv street while calling on the government to recognize one of the most harrowing chapters in Israeli history. Over 500 people demonstrated Monday evening in central Tel Aviv, calling on the state to recognize its responsibility for the Yemenite children’s affair, which took place in the years after the country was…

By Haggai Matar September 26, 2017

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Israelis protest over the Yemenite children affair, Jerusalem, June 21, 2017. (Activestills.org)

Why is Israel still denying the kidnapping of Yemenite children?

Between the years 1948 and 1952, thousands of babies, children of mostly Yemenite immigrants to the newly-founded State of Israel, were taken away from their parents. After decades of being silenced, it is time to look those parents in the eye and say: you were wronged. This is not a tall order, it is the…

By +972 Magazine September 25, 2017

Israelis protest over the Yemenite children affair, Jerusalem, June 21, 2017. (Activestills.org)

One of Israel’s most painful chapters comes to life in Jerusalem

After 60 years of covering up the disappearance of hundreds of Yemeni babies in the early years of the state, the time has come for justice and accountability. There were moments during Wednesday night’s rally to commemorate the Yemenite children affair in which I wondered how the tiles beneath us, in Jerusalem’s Mashbir Square, failed to crack…

By Orly Noy June 22, 2017

Israelis protest over the Yemenite children affair, Jerusalem, June 21, 2017. (Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: Thousands protest in J’lm over disappeared Yemenite children

Thousands of Israelis took to Jerusalem’s streets on Wednesday evening to demand answers over the disappearance of Yemenite, Mizrahi and Balkan babies in the early years of the state. By Yael Marom, Eli Bitan and Haggai Matar Thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening in order to protest the kidnapping of Yemenite, Mizrahi…

By Haggai Matar June 21, 2017

Still from 'Prophets: Operation Amram.'

New web series spotlights disappeared Yemenite children

In the years following Israel’s establishment, thousands of Yemenite babies, children of new immigrants, were reportedly taken from their parents by the medical establishment and disappeared. Now two filmmakers are working to bring to light the stories of the families who were torn apart. By Tammy Riklis and Yonit Naaman The past half year saw the…

By Haokets May 7, 2017

Photo of Yemenite children who were taken from their parents and disappeared.

Israel opens files on disappeared Yemenite children. But is it enough?

The declassification of hundreds of thousands of documents on one of the most chilling and tragic chapters in Israeli history is a victory for Mizrahi activists. But many files, including on alleged kidnappings of Yemenite children, are still out of reach for the public. Israel’s State Archives last week released over 200,000 previously classified documents on to the…

By Haokets January 2, 2017

Israel’s liberal paper whitewashes the disappearance of Yemenite children

In the 1950s thousands of babies, children of mostly Yemenite immigrants to lsrael, were allegedly taken away from their parents and given up for adoption to Ashkenazi families. Now an investigative report by Haaretz reveals dozens of Ashkenazi children also disappeared, arguing that the crime was not racially motivated. On Friday morning, Haaretz readers woke up to…

By Orly Noy August 13, 2016

Photo of Yemenite children who were taken from their parents and disappeared.

The state must come clean about the fate of the Yemenite children

Between 1948 and 1952, thousands of Yemenite babies, children of immigrants to the newly-founded State of Israel were reportedly taken from their parents by Israel’s nascent medical establishment and disappeared. Now it is time for the state to come clean about what really happened. By Tom Mehager In all our innocence we believed that if…

By Haokets June 26, 2016

Youth protest against the Prawer Plan to displace Bedouin citizens of Israel, Hura, the Negev, November 30, 2013. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

+972 Magazine’s Editor’s Picks of 2015

As 2015 comes to a close, +972 Magazine’s editors and bloggers look back at the year that was, and share the articles that most resonated with them – in no particular order. By +972 Magazine Staff Meet the new generation of Palestinians in Israel To most Jewish Israelis they don’t have names or faces. At worst…

By +972 Magazine December 22, 2015