Testimony of Shula Bar-Nissim, Dalia’s Sister:

My name is Shula Bar-Nissim, I’m the sister of Dalia Avikazar. Dalia is Yossi’s twin. My mother, Shoshana Sultana Avikazar, gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Dalia and Yossi, on January 4, 1964, in the Ha-Emek Medical Center in Afula. I am ten years their senior and I vividly remember the excitement at home when they were born. I chose the name Dalia for my sister. We were 11 brothers and sisters, today sadly only 8 survive. My brother Yossi, Dalia’s twin, is alive and married, bless him. My mother passed away 25 years ago, and she left me an oral testament in her words - find Dalia. She said to me: “Shula, Dalia is alive. Dalia is not dead.”

When the twins were a few months old, Dalia didn’t feel well and was admitted to the Ha-Emek hospital in Afula. They said she had pneumonia. She was there for a month. My mother, may she rest in peace, suffered from asthma and had all the other children at home to care for, but she still made sure to visit Dalia in the hospital. She went twice a week, and whenever possible. There was no proper transportation, the moshav was very isolated. After a month in the hospital, my parents were told that Dalia was feeling much better and could be discharged and brought back home. There was such joy on that day. My mother made beautiful clothes for Dalia, and we all put on our finest to welcome her. My parents went to the hospital by horse and cart to bring Dalia home. After a few hours, we watched them returning without Dalia. I saw my mother’s face, drooping and sad and I asked her: “What happened? Where’s Dalia?” She replied, “There’s no Dalia. They told us she died.”

How could she have died when they explicitly told my parents that she was feeling well enough to be discharged and sent home? How could that be? My parents did not believe it. They said to the hospital staff, “How could our daughter be dead, you told us to come get her?” They did not show my parents the body, nor a death certificate. They just sent them home, like that.

Throughout her life my mother believed that Dalia was living and that she was taken from her. I was very close to my mother, and her words, over the years and before passing, are her will, for me and for the whole family. We believe that Dalia is living, that she was kidnapped, and we will do everything we can to know what became of her.

Currently, the family is trying to locate documents via the authorities.