Testimony by Ora Itzhak, Meir’s sister:

I remember Meir’s disappearance well. I was 16 at the time and very close to my parents. I am the 5th child out of 15. Meir my brother was the youngest. A year before he was born, my mother gave birth to Levi, and when she was in labor with Meir, I was left at home to look after the children.

My mother gave birth to Meir at ‘Meir’ hospital in Kfar Sava, on October 11, 1970. When he was 2 days old my father already gave him the name ‘Meir’, although it is the custom to wait until the Brith.

My mother told me that immediately after the birth a social worker came and asked her how she felt. My mother answered that she felt like any woman who had just given birth: a little tired it was not easy.

Meir was born healthy. Two days later mother was told she is being released without him, because he was being transferred to Beilenson Hospital, he was not well.

The next day, on October 13, 1970, my father turned to me and said: Daughter, let’s take a taxi to Beilenson Hospital and see what’s going on with Meir. My father and I went to Beilenson. As soon as we arrived, we were told that the child was dead. They did not show us a body or present any documents. They ignored all our questions. They told my father that the child had died and that they buried him in a mass grave in Petah-Tikvah. Father told them: Who are you to bury my child? If he is dead, why don’t you give me his body to bury?

From there my father and I rushed to ‘Chevrah Kadisha’ (Burial Society) in Petah-Tikvah. The rabbi there told us he did not receive for burial any baby with the surname Hemi. We went back to ‘Beilenson’ and they insisted again that he was buried in a mass grave and sent us back to ‘Chevrah Kadisha’ in Petah-Tikvah, and so on back and forth until suddenly the rabbi remembered that there was a mass grave, but he did not show us one. I was very much involved and escorted my father through it all.

My father filed a complaint with the police and consulted with a lawyer, but the lawyer told him that legal proceedings will cost him a fortune and suggested that my father tell the story of Meir’s disappearance to a newspaper. My father then turned to ‘Netanya Newspaper’. They visited us and published a big item about the story.

There was also a nurse from ‘Meir” hospital in Kfar-Sava who testified that they transferred a perfectly healthy baby to ‘Beilenson’, and a week later she was fired. I do not remember the nurse’s name.

My parents are no longer alive. They both experienced endless sorrow and grief over Meir’s disappearance. They blamed themselves, thinking that perhaps if my mother hadn’t told the social worker that she was tired after labor, it wouldn’t have happened. So much suffering they experienced. When I think about it and I can’t believe how easily they tore a child from his parents. And even if he had died, how could they not let his family bury him? Today I am doing everything in my power to get closure. We deserve some peace of mind, my siblings and I. I wish my parents too to have some rest, wherever they are.

Meir’s disappearance affected me so much all these years, that when I gave birth, I did not allow anybody in the hospital to come near the babies. I did not let anybody touch them. It's with us constantly.

Comments following details that appeared in the article:

In the article written about the family (a section of which is attached to the testimony), the reporter mentions explicitly that the father presented him with documents that support everything he said: On the death certificate given to ‘Chevrah Kadisha’ it was written that Meir died 3 days after he was born, on October 13, 1970, whereas on the certificate that the father received from ‘Chevrah Kadisha’ when he went to check, it was written that Meir was buried only on October 19, 1970, 6 days later. All the documents were given to the newspaper editors.

The father sent letters to the ministers of police, law, and health, and demanded that they intervene and investigate the case. He received laconic answers that the matter is being looked into, but nothing came of it. These letters were also given to the newspaper editors.

Both parents are no longer alive.