Testimony of Iris and Oved, the children of Faraj and Rachel Yehezkel Ezra

Our parents, Faraj and Rachel Yehezkel Ezra, arrived in Israel from Iraq in 1951. They arrived separately and did not know each other until 1959, when they both arrived at Sheikh Munis [Muwwanis], where a mutual acquaintance introduced them. They married that same year and went to live in Holon.

I, Iris, was born in 1961 and my brother, Oved, was born in 1968. It seems that in 1960, Mother gave birth to a healthy boy in Hakirya Hospital in Tel Aviv. She saw him, she held him – he was by her side for two or three days, and then they simply took him away. When she asked where he was, they told her that he had died. Mother never believed he was dead. She told us - I gave birth to a healthy child, chubby, light-complexioned and good-looking. He was not ill nor did he have anything wrong with him.

I wish Mother herself could tell us about this now but she had a stroke on December 16, 2018 and she has not been able to speak since. Until then, she spoke of the son who disappeared. It has hurt her very much and saddened her all these years. Father died a number of years ago as did an uncle who knew about the disappearance, so we do not have any clues, not an identity number nor an exact date of birth.

Iris adds: During all those years I saw Mother’s pain and I went to Hakirya Hospital in Tel Aviv – to the archives. But I was not able to find anything. I also spoke to the Council for the Welfare of the Child, to see if they had record of an adoption connected to our family during those years. There, too, I was unable to find any answers.

Our goal is to discover the truth. What happened to our brother?

Our goal is to give our Mother, who is now very ill and barely able to function, closure.