The Bedouin young man who declared: "I am a Jewish child who was kidnapped"

The article revisits the story of Abdullah, a Bedouin young man who came to Rabbi Grossman 50 years ago claiming he was a kidnapped Jewish child. He identified Israel Gabai as his father, after his son Yitzhak disappeared from Moshav Tirosh in 1956. The family confirms the identification, despite media reports that blood tests ruled out a family connection.

The article revisits the story of Abdullah, a Bedouin young man who came to Rabbi Yitzhak Dovid Grossman in Migdal HaEmek about 50 years ago and claimed he was convinced he was a kidnapped Jewish child. Abdullah recounted that during a family quarrel he was told his mother was Jewish, and since then he was haunted by the feeling that he did not belong to the family that raised him. Rabbi Grossman arranged a meeting between Abdullah and Israel Gabai, the father of Yitzhak Gabai, who disappeared from the yard of his home in Moshav Tirosh in 1956 at the age of three. According to the article, Abdullah immediately identified Israel Gabai as his father, and Gabai recognized scars on Abdullah's back that matched medical treatments his son had undergone. The reunion was emotional, and Abdullah moved to live with Gabai in Moshav Tirosh. However, the media reported at the time that blood tests proved there was no family connection between Abdullah and the Gabai family. Family members, who spoke with the reporter, vehemently deny the test results and claim that Israel Gabai died knowing he had found his lost son. The article brings the testimonies of David Gabai, Yitzhak's older brother, and Shimon Ben Khalifa, the son of his sister Aliza, who confirm the family's version. The story, which appeared on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth 50 years ago, is presented as a borderline story between faith, mysticism, and scientific facts.