The Yemenite Children Affair - (Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Jewish History, Historiography, and Memory) by Motti Inbari (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Yemenite Children Affair was a tragic crisis in which about 1,000 children died between 1949 and 1954. Over the years, rumors spread that the kids were not dead, but kidnapped. This book tells the story from the health crisis to the investigations and the conspiracy theories that have developed ever since.

Book Synopsis

This edited collection brings together leading scholars in their field to discuss the Yemenite Children Affair including the health crisis, the public demand for an investigation, and the public discourse surrounding it. The Yemenite Children Affair was a tragic health crisis in which about 1,000 babies and toddlers died between 1949 and 1954. In most cases, the parents did not witness the death of their children and did not attend their funerals. Over the years, rumors spread that the babies had not died but were kidnapped by the Israeli authorities and sold to childless Ashkenazi or Holocaust survivors in Israel and the United States.

These rumors eventually created a public demand for an investigation. The contributors to this book analyze the policy and health challenges surrounding immigration to Israel in the 1950s, Operation Magic Carpet, the archives on the Yemenite Children Affair and public discourse surrounding it, testimonies at commissions, among other topics. Scholars of Jewish studies, Israel studies, Middle Eastern studies, public health, and political science will find this book of particular interest.

Review Quotes

"In The Yemenite Children Affair: Ethnic Tensions, Immigration, and Public Records in Israel, the authors have compellingly shown that the notion of a conspiracy to kidnap Yemenite children should be yet another topic to be added to the list of conspiracy theories, heavy on dramatics and emotion, but lacking the slightest bit of evidence." --The Lehrhaus

About the Author

Dr. Motti Inbari is professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.