The disappeared: 600 people have been missing since the establishment of the state, but no body is charged with handling the issue

Although more than 4,000 people go missing in Israel every year, there is no dedicated organization that coordinates the treatment of the phenomenon.

The lack of a significant infrastructure for locating the missing has led to a bleak situation, in which family members live with a continuous lack of knowledge as to the fate of their loved ones.

"He actually always exists with us, but we are not found"

Shlomi Heller

08/13/2022

Saturday, August 13, 2022, 07:00 Updated: 11:43

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One year since the disappearance of Daniel Minivetsky (photo: Yotam Ronan, editing: Nir Chen)

About 600 people have been identified as missing since the establishment of the state, and over 4,000 missing persons every year are the focus of attention of a small group of activists and volunteers who are trying to follow their footsteps.

The lack of a significant infrastructure for locating missing persons in the State of Israel led, among other things, to this dismal situation, when behind every missing person stands a broken family that bears the heavy burden of not knowing what happened to a loved one.

Today, upon receipt of a missing person report to the Israel Police, an investigation file is opened in the case of the missing person and, depending on the circumstances, targeted searches are conducted along with the collection of intelligence information in order to trace the missing persons.

Unlike other police units, the search operations are carried out with the investigators of the station where the complaint was filed, who are sometimes assisted by additional forces assigned to the task, but without a designated national unit.

"He said he was going to smoke."

Daniel Minivetsky and his mother Verda (photo: courtesy of the family)

"Motti entered the statistics of the missing"

Moti Lahav, 49, a taxi driver resident of Acre, divorced and the father of a girl, disappeared about 12 years ago.

On December 14, 2010, the members of his family arrived as they do every year for their father's memorial service at the cemetery, and were waiting for Muti to join them - but he was late for the meeting.

"We were all looking for him, he didn't come to the cemetery, nor to the synagogue, and he didn't answer any phone calls. We called the taxi station to find out, and there they told us that he didn't come to work," said his family member.

"The next day, the station manager called me, and told me that they found his taxi in the Paki'in settlement without him. I asked what that meant... I didn't understand the implications of this. We arrived at a police station and began searching for two days with cavalry and a helicopter, but they found nothing. After a few The other day, the investigating officer at the station called me and said, 'Motti entered the statistics of missing persons of the State of Israel. He disappeared.' Maybe there is a group here in Israel that is missing people? There are 600 or so missing people here, of all ages, and they don't know where they are."

According to her, they continued their search efforts even after that, questioning almost everyone who was in contact with Muti.

"We did everything we could. We traveled all over the country. From the north to Eilat. We distributed flyers, hired investigators, went to rabbis... I understand that the police's resources are very limited, but for a family member to disappear like that and there is no information? As a citizen, I do not have the information and the means. The police should investigate the things in more depth."

She says about the daily struggle: "It's terribly difficult, we have a file of letters that we receive from the enforcement agency, no one helps or cares. I would like to change the front door to the house, but I don't do it because maybe he will come back and not be able to enter."

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To the full article

"Before Esnet disappeared she called me and asked for forgiveness"

Esnat Berkolin, 45 years old, a resident of Ashkelon, left her home on February 3, 2015 and since then her traces have disappeared.

Ayala Ordani, her sister, says: "We are nine children in the family, Asanat is the middle one. We came to Israel through Sudan, we grew up and were educated until our parents came to Israel in boarding schools. She met someone at the age of 18, they had two children, but she raised them alone. She had Difficulties in life, she worked here and there for a living. Seven years before she disappeared, she had a serious car accident and suffered pain afterwards as well. But she raised the children and did not give up.

"A few days before she disappeared, she called me and asked for my forgiveness.

I asked her 'why are you asking for forgiveness, you didn't do anything to me', and she claimed that she had a dream and avoided me.

Two days after that she just disappeared.

"The police began searching for her, in the security camera video she is seen leaving the house at 3:00 p.m. dressed in black, and this is actually the only documentation that exists from the day of her disappearance. I don't know what happened to her, if she is not alive it is possible that they would have found her body. On the other hand , she wrote a letter that we wouldn't look for her and we wouldn't sit on her. Maybe she did something to herself. For two weeks, we went on a search with the Ashkelon police and a lot of volunteers, around the city, in the woods. We searched the whole area and didn't find anything.

"The fight is very difficult," she says Ayala. "The knowledge that she is missing and we don't know if she is alive, the uncertainty - that's the hardest thing.

She came to Israel through Sudan on foot, and precisely in the Land of Israel she disappears and they don't know where she is.

Since she was gone, her children's lives have stopped."

It is not known what happened to him.

Daniel Minivetsky (photo: courtesy of the family)

There is no status to be absent

Daniel Minivetsky, 35 years old from Tel Aviv, left the door of his parents Verda and Yehoshua Minivetsky's house on October 11, 2014.

He told his parents that he was going out to smoke but since then he has disappeared and it is not known what happened to him.

"We looked for him with the help of the police, volunteers and even hired private investigators who work with us to this day on a voluntary basis. After several months of not finding him, we learned that there are more missing people in Israel," Varda Minivetsky says.

"When I thought about missing people, I thought about missing people like Guy Hever and quite a few other people. That's what I knew. I didn't realize that there was such a thing and on such a scale.

" 525 are missing in the country. Today it is 580 according to the police, but I imagine there are more than 600 since its inception.

"We decided to get into this matter and founded the association 'without them'," she continues.

"The first meeting was with 12 families whose loved ones had been absent for a long time. Since then, more and more families have been added, for example - I am in contact with Moishi Kleinerman's mother, and I even visited them at home, but I told her: 'Wait, I don't want to join us because I believe that he will be found soon'. Compared to Kleinerman's case, in our association we have families of missing persons from 30, 40 and even 50 years ago. But it is natural that in this difficult situation people want to feel that they belong to a certain body."

"There are families of missing people from 30, 40 and even 50 years ago."

Kleinerman, who has been missing for over 4 months (photo: courtesy of the family)

She points out the problem: "There is no status for the missing person, because he is supposed to return, and he has assets. The families of the missing were alone for a long period of time, no one paid attention to them. Today there is more attention, both from the police and from the state. If a body was established that centralized all the volunteers in the country, the situation would have been much better.

"Since we founded the association, out of 64 missing people, only one missing person has been found alive - Lutifia Zabad from Baka al-Gharbia, who was found two years later in Paris after flying there as part of a family trip," Varda says. "Their bones of two more missing persons were located several years later.

We also have missing children, Alexandra Brandt, 10 years old from Ramat Gan who went missing in 1994 and Haim Albert 10 years old who went missing in 1988."

Verda shares the family's feelings since her son's disappearance.

"Over the years, many people come to us like they come to Shiva. It's terrible because we constantly talk about Daniel - we have his room at home, there are songs he played, and there are pictures of him and everything that belongs to him. He is actually always with us, but we are not found , and we live with that. The grandchildren are constantly asking questions, it's a very difficult life."

"We must not despair"

Yekutiel Ben Yaacov, Mike, is the head of the Israel Canine Unit (YCL), which includes a core of 25 people who have been working to locate missing persons for the past decade and another 400 volunteers across the country. In

saving lives" he says.

According to him, "we have operational capabilities that others do not have, and the time to take care of it.

Sometimes we get information from the police stations, who know us and call us;

Sometimes the families of the missing contact us directly, and claim that their case is not being handled and nothing is being done about it.

"In terms of the deadline, the first three days of the absence are the most critical, because if something happened to the missing person, then time is a significant element. Today we operate independently and work with all populations, so it is easy for us to work with populations that have less contact with the police.

After 1,000 searches and inquiries on a daily basis, Ben Ya'akov says that there is a price for his activity in the field, "I carry our misses every night, looking at the photos of the missing persons that we have not yet been able to locate. But we must not despair, because we learn from it and draw lessons, and on the other hand When we locate a missing person and he smiles and laughs, the fact that you gave him a chance to live is worth more than anything."

The Israel Police stated: "The Israel Police has taken upon itself the handling of the issue of the missing and the unknown in the State of Israel as a task of the highest importance and sensitivity. All those engaged in this task in the Israel Police recognize that behind every missing person there is a family, relatives and friends and work out of responsibility and commitment. The handling of missing persons cases is anchored orders and procedures and undergo strict supervision and control procedures as well as being updated according to technological and other developments.

"In the case of a complaint about a missing person and as new information is received in his case, actions are carried out at the investigative, intelligence and operational level in accordance with the circumstances of the case and situation assessments. For each report of a missing person, the Israel Police conducts a large number of investigative actions in order to locate him as soon as possible and with the aim of reaching the truth. The Israel Police considers treatment In the issue of the missing and the unknown, the mission invests the best of its researchers and the technological advance found in the organization into this issue."

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