My name is Yakov Yashar. I was born in Israel on May 11, 1945. My parents are Shoshana Yashar (née Vulcan) who immigrated to Israel from Poland in 1935 with the “HeHalutz Hatzair” (The Young Pioneer Movement). My father, Shmuel Yashar, was born in Persia and immigrated to Israel in 1935.

At that time we lived on Sokolov Street in Ramat Hasharon.

My brother Yitzhak Zvi was born in 1949 and died, supposedly, at the age of ten months when he was hospitalized at the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba due to a high fever. I was five years old at the time and my sister Rachel was eight.

When Meshulam’s protest erupted, I approached a lawyer asking for my brother’s death certificate and his place of burial. That was in 1996. This request occurred to me when I remembered that throughout the austerity period our family received food rationing coupons for my brother Yitzhak Zvi too. My parents said: “How is this possible - he is dead!” In addition a mobilization order for the army arrived for my brother. My father sent it back, and since then we have not received any more documents.

My mother was always crying and asking “How could he have died? He was a healthy boy who was admitted to hospital with a high fever so why didn’t they save him?”

Due to the fact that our family are Kohanim, it appears that our father did not go to the grave, and did not look for it.

My memory is blurred. Life went on and a year later a sister was born.

I received a death certificate stating that he died at the Rokach Hospital, Tel Aviv

Yakov Yashar