Does information matter? Online discourse on the Yemenite children’s affair in Israel after release of archival documents
| Date | 03 May 2024 |
| Pages | 1273-1290 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2024-0010 |
| Published date | 03 May 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Roy Peled,Gal Yavetz |
Does information matter? Online
discourse on the Yemenite
children’s affair in Israel after
release of archival documents
Roy Peled
Haim Striks School of Law, College of Management Academic Studies,
Rishon Lezion, Israel, and
Gal Yavetz
Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –This study evaluates how publicly available archival documents shaped online discussions about
allegations that thousands of children were kidnapped during the 1950s in Israel, known as the Yemenite
children’s affair. It examines if access to historical records leads to more informed and rational public discourse,
especially on social media.
Design/methodology/approach –Using content analysis, this study examines Facebook posts from media
outlets, politicians, NGOs and public groups between 2016 and 2021 to understand how the Israeli State
Archives’release of over 300,000 documents affected support of the kidnapping.
Findings –Despite extensive archival information debunking the kidnapping theory, public opinion and
discourse largely continued to support it. This suggests a complex interaction between information
availability, preexisting beliefs, echo chambers and group allegiances, suggesting that access to factual data
alone may not effectively challenge established beliefs in online public settings.
Researchlimitations/implications –Since data were collected only from Facebook, ourconclusions cannot
be generalized to other platforms. The study relies only on publicly accessible data and does not establish
causality between exposure to information and shifts in opinion. Our findings show that disclosing archival
information does not significantly benefit public political discourse on contentious topics but also point to the
advantages of mediating information by politicians, NGOs and journalists.
Originality/value –As a unique case study, this research contributes to understanding the role of historical
archives in digital-age public discourse. It highlights their potential and limitations in facilitating informed
debate and deliberation, emphasizing the complexity of influencing established beliefs with factual data.
Keywords Information theory, Archives, Public sector organizations, Digital communications, History,
Documentation
Paper type Research paper
Background
The Yemenite children affair (henceforth, the “affair”) has been a topic of heated social and
political debate in Israel for more than half a century. Its origins are in the period immediately
after the foundation of the state in May 1948, when the Jewish community of some 700,000
doubled its population in three years. This massive absorption of immigration took place
while the state was fighting a war of independence and was under a food-rationing austerity
regime (Seidelman, 2020). A little over 50,000 of those immigrants came from Yemen. They
arrived in dire physical condition after an arduous journey through the desert. One-third
required immediate hos pitalization, among them, many babies and chil dren (Meir-
Glitzenstein, 2011).
The immigrants were temporarily housed in large, cramped tent camps. Babies were
accommodated in brick barracks to protect them from the weather and unhygienic
conditions. Field hospitals were erected, but they were poorly staffed and equipped. Many
Does
information
matter?
1273
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 12 January 2024
Revised 1 April 2024
Accepted 4 April 2024
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 80 No. 6, 2024
pp. 1273-1290
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-01-2024-0010
children perished under these conditions. Because of the physical situation and lack of
communication and means of transportation as well as due to certain religious practices,
children were often buried before their parents were notified of their death.
Starting In the mid-1960s, rumours began to spread among the community of immigrants
from Yemen that the children reported dead had actually been kidnapped by the
establishment and handed over for adoption to families of European origin (which we
refer to here as the “kidnapping theory”). Lending credibility to these rumours was the fact
that the national registry was poorly maintained due to the general disarray that was
prevalent at the time, and as a result, some deaths were not recorded. Years later, in the 1960s,
draft notices that were based on these faulty records were sent out to some families whose
children would have reached conscription age and suspicions began to arise. These were then
intensified by political and social groups with strong anti-government sentiments
(Birenboim, 2019). Public outcry led to three cycles of investigations: a governmental
committee in 1966, a public committee headed by an appellate court judge in 1988, and a
national inquiry commission headed by a supreme court justice in 1995 (Levitan, 2023).
Together, they reviewed complaints about the alleged kidnapping of a little over 1,000
children and found decisive documentation as to the death of 95% of them. In some of the
remaining cases, investigators failed to find sufficient documentation, and a few others
involved children who were given up for adoption through court proceedings. No evidence of
any kidnapping was found. An additional parliamentary commission headed by a Knesset
member (parliament member; MK) of Yemenite origin, who was determined to reveal the
truth about the alleged kidnappings, found no such evidence either (Levitan, 2023). Several
graves were exhumed and where possible, genetic samples were drawn, only to prove that the
identities of the children buried there matched those that appeared in the official records. Free
DNA tests that were given to the families failed to identify any living person whose parents
filed a complaint stating they were falsely reported dead.
Nevertheless, suspicion towards the establishment, stoked by radical political groups
from the right and left as well as academics (mostly critical race theorists), kept the
kidnapping theory alive with claims that there was a large-scale conspiracy to hide the
evidence (Levitan, 2023). In response, the government passed a resolution requiring the Israel
State Archives to release the nearly 400,000 documents collected over the course of all the
investigations, which it made publicly available online in December 2016. None of the
documents yielded any evidence of kidnapping, but rather than putting the affair to rest, this
only led to new allegations that the documents might have been falsified. Much of the ongoing
controversy surrounding this affair has taken place online on social media. Troves of new
information have been made easily accessible online and continue to feed the debate, which
has only intensified. Thus, the affairs presents a unique opportunity to examine the role of
information in public discourse on social media.
Literature review
The role of information in public discourse
In Habermas’s (1989) influential theory, he posited that public discourse was a core feature of
modern liberal democracies. Habermas (1989) also assumed that a rational and informed civil
society could agree on certain factual statements, which he argued was the basis for social
coordination and consequently legitimized law. Earlier, Arendt (1967) too emphasized the
necessity of a shared factual base for any political discourse. Both were acutely aware that
achieving rational public discourse required overcoming significant obstacles, but their
theories implied that it was possible to attain at least to some degree.
However, in recent decades, scholars have wondered whether this is indeed the case. Vast
research has shown that most of the public is politically ignorant or worse, clings to proven
JD
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