Hassan and Yonah (Hamama) Salem

I give this testimony regarding the kidnapping of my sister Salem, Hadassah, ID 05176912, and her twin Salem, Yitzhak, ID 05176911, who were born on December 11, 1952.

My mother, Ms. Salem Hamama, blessed be her memory, ID 01033069, (her name was changed later to Shlomi Yona) gave birth to the aforementioned twins in her home in Moshav Amka (in an abandoned village). A few days later, a medical representative from the public health office in Acre (a female doctor or nurse to my knowledge) arrived by SUV and accompanied by a driver, and she asked to take the newly born twins to spend a month at the nursery at Haemek Hospital in Afula. The explanation they gave was that it’s important for the sake of my mother's physical strength and postnatal health. My mother would not agree at first, but she was convinced to go along by my father, Mr. Salem Hassan, (who later changed his name to Shlomi Yefet, ID number 01033068). In his naiveté, he believed that this is a solution that would benefit the mother and children. It’s worth noting that in their home they already had three young children – two sons and a daughter.

At that time, the children's grandfather, my mother's father, Mr. Yihyeh Oved, and my mother's brother, Mr. Saadia Mansour, lived in Afula and visited the children every day in the hospital. On their wrists were bracelets with children's names which were provided by the hospital or by the health insurance agency.

After about a month, Mr. Saadia Mansour arrived at my parents’ home in Moshav Amka and informed them that they can take the twins home. My mother accompanied him to Afula. She did not know the way and did not speak Hebrew. The next day she arrived with her father to the hospital and asked to take the kids. At the hospital they were told that two children had died. Only a few days earlier, Uncle Saadiah saw them in the hospital and they healthy. After several hours of loud arguments, they were told that the son, Yitzhak, was alive, and then he was handed back to my mother. As for the girl, Hadassah, the hospital insisted that she had died. Throughout this argument my mother and her father demanded to see and/or to receive the body for burial, and also to get a death certificate. They were told at the hospital that the child has been buried and that there is no death certificate. It would take over forty years, after an investigation by a third committee into the kidnapping of Yemeni Children, for a death certificate to be issued issued and given to the family.

My mother, with mixed feelings, hastened to wrap up the child that was given to her in a coat and got out of the hospital for fear of what might happen there.

In the ‘50s, during the austerity period, my family was given a food allowance for Hadassah as well, though the girl supposedly had died. In addition, some 17 years later, the twins received draft orders - both Yitzhak who was returned to my mother, and Hadassah.

Hadassah Salem ID 05176912, born in December of 1952.

Yefet Shlomi

After several hours of loud arguments, they were told that the son, Yitzhak, was alive, and then he was handed back to my mother. As for the girl, Hadassah, the hospital insisted that she had died. Throughout this argument my mother and her father demanded to see and/or to receive the body for burial, and also to get a death certificate. They were told at the hospital that the child has been buried and that there is no death certificate.