My parents immigrated from Iraq in 1951 with two small children. They arrived in Sha'ar Aliya [Immigration Gateway] where they were sprayed [with DDT]. From Sha'ar Aliya they were transferred to Be'er Ya'akov, to the transit camps. They experienced culture shock. From people who had made an honorable living in Iraq, they were brought to the brink of poverty and to the verge of starvation. Life there was unbearable, and the weather conditions were harsh. All services were inaccessible and unavailable. They had to walk everywhere, including to a toilet that was shared by many people. Obviously there were no cars or public transport.

The baby was born in Assaf Harofeh in 1951. It seems that he was named Yitzhak after his paternal grandfather. Sometime after the birth he suffered from diarrhea, and the parents took him back to the same hospital, where he was admitted. My parents would come there to be with him. One day they arrived in the babies' ward and through the window they saw that his bed was empty. They asked the medical team where he was, and they were told that he had died. They asked to see him, and were told that he had been buried and that the burial location was unknown. They were not given a death certificate, they were not given any additional information. Rather, the hospital staff sent two grieving parents with language barriers and economic difficulties on their way, stunned by the conduct of the medical team. They were innocent, and did not know how to manage.

Those details are based on my uncle's testimony, who is over 90 years old now. My mother only gave me a few details just before she died. The wound never healed. It kept bleeding and they did not want to poke at it. They did not raise the subject in order to protect us, their children, and to avoid upsetting us. They opted to live in denial.

This event affected my mother so badly that she became radically anxious. Every time we left the house she called us endlessly or made us get in touch from wherever we were. The disaster she experienced weighed heavily on us, her children. I did not know about what had happened all those years. She only talked about it before her death. The father has also already passed away.

I contacted the hospital and they have no record of the birth. Nor does the Interior Ministry. That's why we think the baby was kidnapped.

Testimony: Sima Avraham.