Justice Denied? Supreme Court Blocks Babies Autopsies After Violent Jerusalem Riots

In a decision that has left legal experts and investigators reeling, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the bodies of four month old infants Leah Tziporah Goloventzitz and Aharon Katz will not undergo autopsies. The ruling comes after forty-eight hours of violent nationwide protests by Haredi extremist factions who sought to prevent the medical examinations on religious grounds. While the families and religious organizations celebrated the decision as a victory for the dignity of the dead, critics and law enforcement officials warn that this move may have effectively crippled the prosecution's ability to hold anyone accountable for the tragedy. By allowing religious sensitivities and street violence to dictate the terms of a criminal investigation, the court has left the true cause of these young deaths a mystery, potentially allowing those responsible for horrific neglect to escape full justice.

Violent Riots and the Court’s Retreat

The legal battle over the bodies triggered a wave of aggression across Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and Highway 4. Extremists blocked major traffic arteries for hours, ignited trash cans, and threw rocks at security forces while shouting "Nazis" at police officers. In one particularly brutal incident on Highway 4, protesters were caught on camera throwing an elderly man to the ground after he attempted to move a large rock they had placed in the road to block traffic. In Jerusalem, an 18 year old protester was hospitalized in moderate condition after being struck by a vehicle during a blockade on Golda Meir Boulevard.

Despite a lower court judge initially ruling that an autopsy was necessary to "either identify a criminal or clear an innocent person," the Supreme Court overturned that decision following an appeal by ZAKA’s legal department. The high court emphasized the need for "maximum preservation of dignity," a move that essentially rewards the violent tactics of the protesters. This decision has created a dangerous precedent, suggesting that outrageous public disorder can override the state's mandate to investigate the suspicious deaths of its citizens.

Horrific Neglect and the Defense of the "Pirate" Daycare

While the streets were in chaos, a Jerusalem court extended the detention of the daycare manager, Miriam Friedman, and her assistant, Malka Shmuel. The two women are suspected of reckless homicide and gross neglect. During the hearing, police representatives were visibly shaken, describing the facility as a "pirate" operation that had been running illegally for 30 years without a license or safety inspections. "I was horrified by what I saw there," the police representative stated, describing a standard private apartment that was converted into a crowded, deathly trap for infants.

The most disturbing evidence presented involved a photograph of a baby lying on a thin mattress on the floor of a tiny bathroom, directly next to a toilet. When confronted with this, the suspects claimed the infant had "crawled there without them noticing," a claim police dismissed as a blatant lie given the age of the children. The prosecution argued that these women are "extremely dangerous" because their actions directly led to the deaths of two infants under the age of six months. However, without the forensic proof that an autopsy would provide, proving the exact mechanism of death, whether by heat stroke, suffocation, or other neglect, becomes an uphill battle. The decision to forgo the autopsy ensures that the "child warehouse" conditions may never be fully linked to the fatal outcome in a way that satisfies a criminal court, leaving the families with a burial but perhaps never with the truth.