A state inquiry commission investigating the disappearance of hundreds of Yemenite children during the 1950s held its first meeting last week.
The panel, comprised of two retired judges and a former general, was appointed in January by the Supreme Court to investigate the fate of the children.
Activists in the Yemenite community have alleged that the children of Yemenite immigrants in the 1950s were abducted by Israeli authorities and put up for illegal adoption.
Published findings of earlier commissions have not supported allegations of the mass abductions. Officials have said the children were lost in the chaos of the mass immigration and in most cases, they died of disease.
But suspicions have continued to simmer within the Yemenite community, fueling resentment and calls for a state inquiry.
Last year, followers of a Yemenite sect barricaded themselves in a compound near Tel Aviv, demanding an inquiry. In a shootout with police, one member was killed.
The panel heard testimony from two witnesses at the June 7 meeting. Additional hearings were scheduled.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
