Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled Tuesday afternoon that no autopsies will be performed on the bodies of the two toddlers who died in the Romema daycare tragedy, accepting the appeal filed by ZAKA and the bereaved families. Following the decision, demonstrations that erupted across the country are expected to wind down.
In a unanimous decision by a three-justice panel, the court overturned an earlier ruling by a lower court and instructed the state not to proceed with autopsies on the bodies of Aharon Katz a”h and Leah Tzipora Goloventzitz a”h. The judges determined that, under the circumstances, alternative investigative measures were sufficient and that the bodies should be released for burial.
The High Court hearing took place amid heightened tensions. Outside the courthouse and at multiple locations nationwide, clashes were reported as protesters demanded the cancellation of the autopsies. Attorney Dror Shosheim, representing the families on behalf of ZAKA, presented the parents’ position, emphasizing the severe religious and emotional harm that would be caused by postmortem examinations. After hearing the state’s arguments, the judges concluded that non-invasive alternatives could meet investigative needs.
Following the ruling, Attorney Shosheim said, “This is an important decision that reflects human sensitivity and respect for the deceased. We thank the judges for recognizing the gravity of the moment and the families’ pain.”
With the decision made public, crowds that had gathered in chareidi population centers began dispersing. Highway 4, which had been closed for hours near Bnei Brak, gradually reopened to traffic, as did major intersections in Yerushalayim and Beit Shemesh. Police are now coordinating the orderly release of the bodies for the levayos, expected to take place later today.
Despite the families’ legal victory on the autopsy issue, the criminal investigation continues. Authorities will now seek to establish the circumstances of death based on evidence from the scene, caregiver testimony, and external CT scans already performed, without the pathological findings of a full autopsy.
The daycare owner and a caregiver remain in custody on suspicion of negligent homicide and child neglect at an unlicensed facility.
{Matzav.com}
Dear Matzav Inbox,
I’ve been watching, with growing discomfort, how our askanim and elected representatives—both here in the United States and in Eretz Yisroel—are treated when they cast a vote or make a decision that the public doesn’t immediately understand.
They are ripped apart. Publicly eviscerated. Branded as traitors, sellouts, or worse, often within hours, sometimes minutes, of a decision being reported. And not always fairly.
These are not fools. These are serious, intelligent people who sit in rooms we are not in, hear information we do not have access to, and weigh consequences most of us will never fully see. They have cheshbonos. They make decisions for reasons, not on a whim.
And yet, the reflexive response is outrage: loud, unfiltered, and unforgiving.
So I ask: Do they owe us a public explanation every single time they vote a certain way or make a strategic decision? Must every move be accompanied by a press release, a thread, or a justification tailored to appease every faction?
Or does representation mean something else entirely?
Once we elect people, or empower askanim to act on behalf of the tzibbur, doesn’t that imply a degree of trust? That we believe they are acting with yiras Shamayim, responsibility, and concern for the broader picture, even when we don’t immediately like or understand the outcome?
Accountability is critical. Transparency matters. But so does restraint. So does humility. And so does recognizing that leadership cannot function when every decision is second-guessed in real time by people working with partial information and full confidence.
Perhaps the more uncomfortable question isn’t why they don’t explain themselves, but why we assume they must.
Just wondering.
A Yid
NY/NJ
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Knesset Education Committee chairman Tzvi Sukkot said he will move quickly to address what he described as an unacceptable daycare registration crisis, promising to convene an urgent committee discussion to prevent children from being shut out of supervised frameworks.
Speaking in a radio interview with journalist Yisroel Meir on the program Osim Seder, Sukkot addressed mounting complaints from parents who say bureaucratic cutoffs are leaving infants without placement for the coming school year. Meir described the reality facing many families: parents of babies born in late winter or spring are told registration is closed, leaving them with no options. “The child was born after February or March—registration is closed, and there’s nothing I can do,” Meir said, noting that many families are then pushed toward unregulated solutions, an issue that has taken on added urgency following Monday’s tragedy in Yerushalayim.
Sukkot, who assumed the committee chairmanship about a month ago, acknowledged that the issue is relatively new to him but said he has already received numerous appeals from parents. He pledged to take up the matter immediately. “I will definitely study this and I will convene a discussion to see what can be done, because there is no chance we should legitimize a reality in which children are not registered simply because they were born after an initial cutoff,” he said, adding, “This is something that makes no sense.”
Turning to practical solutions, Sukkot rejected the current rigid model and argued for a more flexible system that can expand during the year to reflect natural population growth. In his view, the system must adapt to children—not the other way around. “Anyone born in May or June should be able to enter, and new groups need to be opened,” he said, stressing that the issue requires in-depth work and a determined response because it addresses a basic need of young families.
Sukkot concluded by linking the registration failures to the broader need for oversight and regulation of daycare centers, especially in light of the recent disaster in the capital. “We are under harsh and painful scrutiny because of this terrible tragedy in Yerushalayim,” he said. Outlining his goals for the committee, he added: “We want supervised daycare centers, we want orderly frameworks, and we want parents to be able to send their child to a place where the child receives proper conditions. We are going to fight for that.”
{Matzav.com}
As authorities continue investigating the deadly incident at a daycare center in Yerushalayim’s Romema neighborhood, the director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital says that early medical findings have ruled out poisoning and point instead to extreme environmental conditions as the likely cause of the tragedy.
In an interview on Kol Chai radio’s main evening program, Dr. Yaniv Scherrer, director of Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, shared initial insights from hospital treatment rooms and laboratories hours after two toddlers died and dozens of others were rushed for medical care. Despite extensive testing using advanced equipment, Scherrer said doctors have not identified “any toxin or substance that we can say caused the incident involving dozens of infants,” leaving investigators still searching for definitive answers.
Scherrer explained that once the first emergency report was received from Magen David Adom, Hadassah’s hospitals immediately prepared for an unusually complex scenario. While the medical teams are experienced in mass-casualty events, he said this case raised particular alarm. “This is not a routine incident. We are talking about very young children, infants in a daycare, with three in life-threatening condition,” he said. Because of the initial concern that the children may have been exposed to a toxic substance, staff prepared the emergency rooms with separate clean and potentially contaminated zones to protect both patients and medical personnel.
During comprehensive examinations of the 45 children treated at Hadassah Ein Kerem and Hadassah Mount Scopus, several key possibilities were ruled out. Doctors searched for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, a dangerous gas sometimes emitted by heating devices in enclosed spaces, but blood tests did not show elevated levels. Exposure to pesticides was also excluded. “Very quickly we saw that this was not an external substance, but rather some kind of irritation that was likely respiratory,” Scherrer said, adding that rarer possibilities such as contaminated food or bottles are still being examined, though the cause may ultimately prove to be environmental.
With toxic exposure largely ruled out, medical assessments are increasingly focusing on the physical conditions inside the daycare. Scherrer addressed this cautiously, saying, “It’s possible that in the end this is a story of crowding and heat and suffocation that were there—we don’t know.” As part of preparations for worst-case scenarios, the hospital even readied its hyperbaric chambers in case of severe poisoning, but they were ultimately not needed. Most of the children required only mild respiratory support, and their conditions stabilized quickly after receiving oxygen and initial treatment.
Concluding the interview, Scherrer sought to reassure families and the wider public about the condition of the surviving children. “The infants who are still hospitalized with us—at the moment they are not in danger, and we expect they will be discharged tomorrow,” he said. He also expressed appreciation for the medical teams at both Hadassah hospitals, noting that they mobilized within minutes to provide life-saving care to dozens of infants who arrived at emergency rooms simultaneously amid great uncertainty.
{Matzav.com}
A pre-dawn operation by the military police in the yishuv of Adam ended without an arrest early Tuesday morning after residents and yeshiva students rushed to the scene and physically blocked officers from taking a yeshiva bochur into custody.
According to reports, heavily reinforced military police units entered Adam at around 3:00 a.m. with the aim of arresting a talmid from the Noam HaTalmud Yeshiva who is considered a draft evader. The quiet community was jolted awake as the forces moved toward the bochur‘s home.
Once it became clear that military police were operating inside the community, activists triggered the so-called “Black Alert” system, a rapid-response warning used by opponents of the draft. Within minutes, dozens—and then hundreds—of residents and yeshiva students converged on the location, surrounding the police vehicle and forming a human barrier around the bochur.
After a prolonged standoff marked by tension and confrontations, the officers withdrew from the area without making the arrest. The retreat was met with loud cheers from those gathered at the scene.
The nighttime incident has once again fueled anger and unrest in the chareidi public, particularly among the Sephardic community. Individuals familiar with the details voiced sharp criticism, claiming a troubling pattern. “Time and again we see these initiated arrests—nighttime raids that reach right into people’s homes—focused on young men from the Sephardic community,” one source said. “Is this coincidence, or a deliberate policy? The public is no longer buying claims that it’s random.”
Following the withdrawal of the forces, the atmosphere quickly shifted. The home in Adam turned into a scene of celebration, with footage showing dozens of yeshiva students dancing energetically alongside the student and his family, expressing gratitude for what they described as a late-night miracle.
“They came to take him to prison, and in the end he stayed in the study hall,” one participant said during the dancing. “It feels like the spirit won over brute force.”
{Matzav.com}
