Yehuda and Yona Shar'abi immigrated to Israel in 1932 along with their parents.

My grandfather was called Meshulam Shar'abi. They came from Shar’ab in Yemen because they were Zionists. A whole year they waited for a certificate. When it arrived, they travelled to Suez, and from there by train to Jaffa.

In Israel, they lived in Tel Tzur, a small place near Even Yehuda - with their children Meshulam, Michal, Menachem, Nissim, and Azriel who was later abducted. After Azriel Yosef and David were born. Azriel was born on January 30, 1940.

One day, when Azriel was four or five, he fell ill, and my parents took him to a hospital in Herzliya. They were told: “Go home, we are taking care of the child, come back in a few days”. When they came back, they were told that the child was dead, and they were not given a body for burial.

On Saturdays they used to sit by the house, under the fig tree, and sigh for the boy. My mother, Yona, whispered because she did not like to tell this story.

She had other children who had died, so on different occasions she spoke about different children. But the loss of Azriel was something that weighed heavily on her. For a daughter who had died there was a grave, she knew what had happened to her. Not knowing about Azriel was very difficult for her.

They were naïve, trusting people who thought everyone was as honest as they were, and yet it ate at them for many years after the event.

Yehuda Shar'abi died in 1998. Yona Shar'abi died in the early 2000s.

Testified: Ram and Tova Meshulam