The Ringworm Children

During the 1950s, a large number of North African Jews emigrated to Israel. Using radiation, the Israeli Ministry of Health “treated” nearly 100,000 of their children for ringworm, a nonfatal scalp infection that usually clears up in adolescence. Because the children received dosages equal to 35,000 X-rays, some died while others grew up with radiation-related maladies, including cancer, epilepsy, and sterility. David Belhassen and Asher Hemias' The Ringworm Children pries into this dark, neglected cranny of Israeli history, and argues that the Ministry of Health is the primary culprit, which—under the supervision of Dr. Chaim Sheba—followed a eugenics policy that systematically discriminated against North African Jews. Ultimately, the United States, which provided the machines and perhaps the funding, may have served as an accomplice (the fact that the program cost 300 million Israeli pounds, more than the annual budget of the Israeli government at the time, supports this assertion). Officials from the Ministry of Health responding to these claims seem evasive and defensive, while government documents that could definitively answer some of the questions raised here unfortunately remain locked away. But regardless of who is to blame, the interviews and testimony from the victims effectively convey lifetimes of suffering, and historical footage and photographs corroborate the childhood experiences related here. Presented in Hebrew, with English subtitles, the sound quality varies widely, but those with strong holdings in Israeli or Middle East history will find this documentary worth acquiring. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Wadland)