Ktzia (Qadiya) and Tov Avraham

In 1949 we immigrated from Yemen. We arrived at Shaar Haaliya (Pardesiya). I was a baby, about two years old. My younger brother was about three months old.

My mother Ktzia (Qadiya) was taken to hospital in the transit camp straight off the plane as she didn’t feel well after the flight. My uncle (My father’s brother) saw her at the hospital, she told him to come take her from the hospital because she was feeling better. When he came to get her on the first day he didn’t see her, they sent him from place to place. He couldn’t find her anywhere. They didn’t tell him a thing about her.

At the same time my baby brother who was born in Yemen was taken to the nursery. My aunt used to take him back home every afternoon. One of the times she went to get him, she couldn’t find him. They didn’t tell her anything.

My father, Yosef Avraham, was so upset, his young wife and his baby son disappeared at the same time. He walked by foot to the government offices, yelled and turned tables. He was referred to a hospital in Tel Aviv and didn’t find her there either. He filed a complaint with the police but she was never found.

We submitted a complaint to the Agrom committee (Kedmi). Back in the day Ami Hovav tried to convince me to agree that they passed away and were gone. But I wouldn’t agree. My whole life I waited for my mother. Every time I went to Jerusalem I wouldn’t get on the bus, I would wait at the station, a bus would go by and another and another, and I would wait. A little girl waiting for her mom to maybe get off the bus. My father also waited to the end of his life for my mother and brother to come back. Even on his deathbed, he put the bed near the entrance, in case they walk in. He never forgot them, not have I. Myself and my brothers from my step-mother grew up in the shadow of this tragedy. Even today I’m still waiting to know where they are.

My father, Yosef Avraham, was so upset, his young wife and his baby son disappeared at the same time. He walked by foot to the government offices, yelled and turned tables. He was referred to a hospital in Tel Aviv and didn’t find her there either. He filed a complaint with the police but she was never found.







My whole life I waited for my mother. Every time I went to Jerusalem I wouldn’t get on the bus, I would wait at the station, a bus would go by and another and another, and I would wait. A little girl waiting for her mom to maybe get off the bus