Saturday, August 20, 2016

2016-08-20 Deep State is not so deep in Israel – Shin-Bet, Mossad, and the baby-stealing scandal


Deep State is not so deep in Israel – Shin-Bet, Mossad, and the baby-stealing scandal
Following a new wave of protest by Yemenite Jews, the Israeli government appointed Minister without Portfolio Tzachi Hanegbi, of Yemenite background himself, to investigate allegations of baby-stealing by state welfare and medical agencies in the 1950s. Following his appointment, Hanegbi proudly announced that he had also obtained approval for the investigation from Shin-Bet and Mossad…


Yemenite children in a tent camp in Israel circa 1950.



Post World War II refugees arriving in Israel from Europe.
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OccupyTLV, August 20 – for decades, Yemenite Jews in Israel leveled accusations that during the early decades of the state, authorities stole their babies. Typically, they have been dismissed even recently as conspiracy theories. [i] Now the matter may be investigated again – this time around, apparently with Shin-Bet and Mossad approval….
The typical cases were of large, impoverished families, where a new baby was born. The parents were told in the hospital that the baby died, but never got to see the body. Other cases involved families in transit immigrant camps, whose babies needed to be hospitalized. Again, they were told by medical or welfare personnel that the babies died, but were never shown a body, no death certificates were issued, and no graves were identified. Yemenite Jews alleged that such babies were kidnapped and given for adoption in Israel and abroad.
The issue was first raised in 1950 by an association of Yemenite Jews. Initial government response was typical - classifying the records.
The issue was the subject of both official and unofficial investigations in the 1960s and 1980s. Hundreds of cases were reviewed. In some cases it was established that the babies were indeed given for adoption in Israel. In other cases it was suspected that they were given for adoption abroad. Numerous cases were categorized as “missing babies”. Yemenite Jews considered the previous investigations more of the cover-up.
In the past it was claimed that the practice was applied only to Yemenite Jews, and racism was inferred as a motive. [ii] However, very recent reports raise claims that the practice was more widespread, also applied to families of holocaust survivors. [iii] The affair has even gained some recent international media attention. [iv]
Demand for a true investigation has gained momentum again – campaigns on social networks was the hallmark. In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu yielded and issued Twitter and Facebook messages, consenting to a new investigation. It’s the new form of direct democracy in Israel.
On June 15, 2016 Netanyahu announced that Minister without portfolio Tzach Hanegbi was designated to head the new investigation, and later it was reported that he was formally appointed by the Israeli government.
Tzachi Hanegbi is a member of the ruling Likud party, and of Yemenite background himself. Therefore, his appointment was intended to lend credibility to the new investigation. (Hanegbi has some credibility issues on other accounts, including conviction of perjury in a case that originated in dozens of nefarious, political appointments to government jobs, including some fictitious jobs. Hanegbi also was subject of other criminal investigations, including a 1997 case, where it was alleged that he was the key actor in a deal, involving Netanyahu as well, where attempt was made to appoint a new Attorney General, who would close a bribing investigation against key coalition partner - cabinet minister Aryeh Deri – later convicted and imprisoned on other corruption matters, now again serving as Interior Minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet...)
With it, Hanegbi served in key government positions, including Minister of Justice, and Chairman of the powerful Knesset Committee on Foreign and Security Affairs.
On such background, Arutz Sheva (also known as Israel National News), an Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism, broadcast on August 17, 2016 an interview with Hanegbi, where he stated that he had obtained permission from the Shin-Bet and Mossad for his new investigation of the Yemenite baby-stealing scandal. [v]
Hangebi explained in the interview, that in some of the related files, which he had already been exposed to, there were references to activities of the Mossad and names of Mossad personnel.
In Israel, no one seemed to question the need for Shin-Bet and Mossad approval of investigation into the conduct of welfare and medical personnel some 50 years ago, after the investigation had been decided by the cabinet… or the involvement of Mossad and Shib-Bet in the baby-stealing scandal in the first place… The situation is particularly striking on the background of claims of lack of Shin-Bet involvement in matters, where it should have been involved, or matters, where Shin-Bet was apparently involved in criminality. [vi]
Deep State in Israel is not so deep at all…
The baby-stealing practice itself, may be seen as reflecting a state that had and has minimal consideration for Human Rights, and in its early years was in the midst of a massive social engineering project: A new Israeli identity was constructed and enforced on masses of impoverished refugees, who poured in from post-WWII Europe, from the Middle East and from North Africa. The project also involved active suppression of the native languages and cultures of the immigrants, even the Yiddish culture, which was the native culture of most of the new state’s leaders. [vii,viii]
In different forms, the same mindset continues to this date, but under the seal of the courts. The ease and numbers of children that are removed from their biological parents and given to foster care or adoption has been the subject of bitter social protest. [ix] And a 2013 Knesset committee on Children's Rights documents that even in recent years, children are taken from low socio-economic status families for adoption through dubious methods. [x]


LINKS:




ii2015-01-17 Yemenite Children Affair: Families of the kidnapped speak out_972mag.com
iii2016-08-16 Report Sparks Dozens of New Testimonies of Ashkenazi Kids Disappearing, Some in Pre-state Israel_Haaretz
iv 2016-08-18 Israel’s mysterious baby-stealing scandal extends to Holocaust survivors_Russia Today
v2016-08-17 Minister Hanegbi, appointed to investigate the Yemenite children scandal, discloses that he obtained Mossad and Shin-Bet approval_Arutz Sheva
vii2013-04-29 Mizrahi culture was suppressed, Ashkenazi culture is simply forgotten_972mag.com
viiiIdeology and Jewish Identity in Israeli and American Literature, edited by E. Miller Budick, State University of New York Press (2001)
x 2013-12-31 Knesset Committee on Children's Rights, Protocol #42, on removing children from their biological parents by social workers