Testimony of Sima Ben Ayun (Abutbul)

My name is Sima Ben Ayun. Before I divorced, my family name was Abutbul.

I immigrated to Israel from Morocco in 1956 with my parents and my whole family. In the first year we were in a transit camp in Ashkelon, and after about a year we moved to Jerusalem, near my uncle, my mother's brother. We stayed in Jerusalem ever since.

In 1972, when I was married to Morris Abutbul, I gave birth to my oldest daughter. My obstetrician at the time was Dr. Fleisher, who worked in the community and also at Misgav Ladach Hospital. On June 15, 1972, Thursday night, I gave birth to my daughter in Misgav Ladach Hospital. She was born prematurely, weighing 1.8 kilograms, but she was in good condition and wasn't in any danger. They put her in an incubator and in the first two days I was by her side all the time. After two days, on Saturday, I went to the room where she was and saw that the incubator was empty. I asked, "what's happening here?" There was a worker who cleaned the room, and she said, "they took the crib and told me the baby had died." I cried so much. No one spoke to me or gave me any documents. Morris said that some representative from the hospital came, claiming to be from Chevra Kadisha [Jewish burial society], and said he was going to bury the baby, but in fact, we did not see a body and we weren't told where she was buried. In addition, Morris was dealing with a drug problem at the time, and I had to deal with everything alone. There was nothing to do and nobody to turn to, we just went home with all our pain.

After some time, I got pregnant again and continued to be treated in the community by Dr. Fleisher. There is a moment I remember very well: I was about six months pregnant and went for a check-up with Dr. Fleisher, who told me, "You must register for delivery only at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital." He repeated it twice and really slammed the table with his hand. He didn't need to tell me in words, I understood on my own what he meant. He really insisted that I go and give birth at Hadassah.

I gave birth to my next two children at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Thank God, I have two sons.

A few years later, I saw a news story on TV about the disappearances of children from Misgav Ladach Hospital, for the purpose of sale, and then I could no longer continue with my difficult feelings. I always doubted that the baby died when she was in good condition, and also in light of the fact that we did not receive any documents or burial location, and with all the stories I heard around me, I had to take action. I turned to the authorities, including the Ministry of Welfare, for assistance in finding her grave, if she died, or to find out if she was taken from me and given up for adoption.

I turned to the Misgav Ladach Hospital archive (when it still existed), but they didn't get back to me and I couldn't get any access [to their files]. From there, I continued to the Ministry of Interior, but couldn't get information due to inaccuracies in the dates, but afterwards I went to the National Insurance Institute and a clerk helped me by telling me that a baby girl was registered, but it was noted that she had died. With this information, I continued to the Ministry of Interior and a rabbi who I was in touch with helped me by using her friend's access to the archive. That's how I obtained the death notice and other documents. Even just based on these [documents], it's clear that everything is fabricated. It notes that the baby girl died on June 16th, but on that day I still saw her and was with her, and she disappeared only on the next day - Saturday, June 17th.

My sister works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and helped me draft a letter to the receiver appointed for the dismantling of Misgav Ladach hospital, in order to try to locate records from there. It really touched his heart when he heard the story from my sister and he asked for my phone number and called me, and in the official letter I received from him he wrote that in order to continue the search, it's advisable to take a lawyer. Since then, I haven't succeeded in doing any more.

I also shared the whole story with my boys and they were completely in shock.

The compensation supposedly offered by the state is only for some families and we have no access to them.

Gal, Sima's son, adds:

Thank you for the holy work you're doing. We really, really appreciate it. I hope that we will reach the truth and know what happened, that's the most important thing of all.