My parents, Menashe and Nazima Daniel, immigrated to Israel from Iraq in January 1951, and resided in the Kiryat Atta transit camp, formerly “Kiryat Nachum”.

Carmella was born on February 1952, and when she was about one month/5 weeks old, she had diarrhea, and was admitted to Rambam Hospital.

My father, Menashe, visited her and diligently inquired after her health by phone, and on one occasion, he was told that the daughter, Carmella, was making good progress and they should pick her up in two days, but when he arrived with my mother Nazima, they found her bed empty and asked where she was.

A male nurse in the ward replied: “Did you not get a telegram? Your daughter died tonight”. At that moment, my mother Nazima fainted on the spot.

Since that day, and to the day she died, she suffered great pain.

My parents never got a telegram, nor documents confirming her death, and never saw a body or a grave.

My parents' lives had not been normal since, and afterwards they refused to hospitalize their other children, those born before and after Carmella, at Rambam.

My mother Nazima fell ill. My father used to say that since the loss of Carmella, she had nothing but trouble and illness throughout her life. In 1991 she passed away.

In 1996 we, the family, hoped that if we went to the committee, we may be provided with some answers to alleviate my father’s pain.

In his letter to the committee, my late father wrote: “It is my great misfortune to be living today, after all those years, alone with this sorrow, without my wife, but still I hope to see and hear what happened to my daughter”.

Unfortunately, there too we encountered great disappointment. The committee did not provide a satisfying answer.

Carmella was born in February 1952, while the committee’s conclusions were:

“From the above information, it appears with certainty that baby Carmella, daughter of Menashe and Nazima Daniel, died at Rambam Hospital on June 17th, 1952, when she was one month old”.

In other words, according to the committee, Carmella passed away in June 1952 at the age of 28 days (on that date she would have been several months old).

The discrepancy in the ages is significant and unreasonable. In addition, in regard to the location of the grave, in the committee’s conclusions the baby was "aborted,” and therefore, there is no exact marking of a grave plot.

It is also important for the family to emphasize: The committee’s report stated that the family opposed the disclosure/publication of the findings, but this is not the case.

The father, Menashe, refused to accept the conclusions and findings, and therefore did not agree to have them considered an answer by the committee.

Miri, the Daniel family.

Attached files:

The Menashe and Nazima Daniel case at the committee of inquiry (Hebrew)

Testimony of Menashe Daniel at the committee - page 3 (Hebrew)