Following a petition from the infants’ families, Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that no autopsies are to be performed on the two babies who were tragically niftar at a daycare in Jerusalem on Monday.
The Supreme Court accepted the appeal filed by the legal department of ZAKA on behalf of the families of the two infants who perished in the daycare disaster in Jerusalem, opposing the autopsies of their bodies.
The justices overturned the decision of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court that had approved performing the autopsies and stated that this was a step taken to preserve the kavod of the deceased.
Attorney Dror Shosheim, who represented the families on behalf of ZAKA, said: “This is an important decision that reflects human sensitivity and kavod for the dead. Thanks to the judges who understood the sensitivity.”
The ZAKA organization submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court following the Magistrate’s Court decision on Monday evening approving autopsies of the babies to determine the cause of death.
Shnir Elmaliach, a representative of the ZAKA legal department, represented the families during the hearing. After the judge issued the ruling, one of the babies’ fathers fainted in the courtroom.
Following the lower court’s decision to approve the autopsies despite the opposition of the families, ZAKA released a statement, saying, “Following the decision, ZAKA’s legal department announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking to exhaust every legal avenue to protect the kavod of the babies and minimize harming them as much as possible.”
The hearing took place at 3 p.m. before a panel of justices Alex Stein, Ruth Ronen, and Yechiel Kasher.
The head of ZAKA, explained in an interview with Ynet: “The cause of death is also important halachically. It is relevant, but we are not sure that an autopsy at the moment will add to the findings regarding the cause of death beyond what is currently established. There are enough means today, including technological ones, that can, in our opinion, determine the cause of death. And that is all we are asking, to exhaust the maximum possible and that the family be heard for the sake of the kavod of the deceased.”
The coordinator of ZAKA’s legal department, Michael Guttwein, told Kan News, “In this case, an autopsy is unnecessary. There are shattered parents here to whom they’re stabbing another knife in their hearts. We hope that the Supreme Court will have mercy on the parents and allow them to live in peace.”
ZAKA proposed a compromise: that the infants undergo non-invasive toxicological tests that could reveal the cause of death. However, since the results would only be available in weeks or months, the judge rejected the proposal.
During the night, large protests against the autopsies broke out in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, and the protests resumed on Tuesday.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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One Response
Well the Supreme Court got this one right, & this shall put Chareidim in a predicament, that they shall now have to think/ponder more prudently, before lambesting the Supreme Court, or the ×ž×“×™× ×” for that matter.