A Preventable Tragedy: When Politics Pushes Families to the Brink
Two infants are gone, dozens were hospitalized — and a hard question hangs in the air: who forced parents into unsafe, unsupervised solutions?
A terrible tragedy struck the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday afternoon, when two infants — just three and four months old — lost their lives at a private daycare, and more than 50 additional babies and toddlers were rushed to hospitals amid panic and chaos.
Emergency responders were called after the two babies were found unconscious and without a pulse while sleeping in separate rooms. MDA and United Hatzalah teams fought for nearly an hour to resuscitate them as they were evacuated to Hadassah Har HaTzofim Hospital, but doctors were ultimately forced to pronounce both infants dead. One of the babies had been brought to the babysitter for the very first time that morning.
In total, 55 children were evacuated from the building for medical evaluation. Most were in mild condition, many suffering from breathing difficulties and shock, largely due to the intense panic at the scene.
Initial fears centered on possible exposure to hazardous materials or pesticides. Firefighters and the Jerusalem District hazardous materials unit conducted extensive testing throughout the building and surrounding area, but no toxic substances were found. With that theory ruled out, authorities are now investigating other possible medical or systemic causes.
The daycare, it was later confirmed, was operating without a license. Three caregivers were detained for questioning. A special emergency investigative team has been established by Fire and Rescue services, alongside an intensive police investigation.
But beyond the immediate investigation, this tragedy has ignited a far deeper and more painful reckoning.
Former Interior Minister MK Moshe Arbel of Shas was among the first to say what many were already thinking: “The writing was on the wall.” In Israel, he noted, the children of illegal infiltrators are entitled to subsidized, supervised daycare frameworks — yet in the name of an ideological war against the Chareidi public, the children of avreichim were expelled from regulated systems and left with nowhere safe to go.
Former Welfare Minister MK Yoav Ben Tzur echoed the warning he had issued repeatedly in recent months. He described how the cancellation of daycare subsidies forced thousands of families into unregulated private settings — a danger he had documented and pleaded against in communications to the Attorney General’s Office.
“Sadly,” he said, “the warnings were ignored. Helpless babies paid the price for reckless decisions made far from the cribs and homes of ordinary families.”
Journalist Yisrael Cohen put it even more bluntly: an entire community was pushed against the wall, stripped of supervised options, and compelled to improvise. Monday’s disaster, he said, is not an isolated incident — it is the bitter outcome of deliberate policy.
Shas chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri, while emphasizing the absolute necessity of supervision and the Torah imperative of ונשמרתם מאוד לנפשותיכם, also posed a searing question drawn straight from Tanach: “Who can truly say, ‘Our hands did not spill this blood?’”
When a large population is suddenly thrust into distress, when families are denied basic, safe infrastructure for their children, consequences are not theoretical. They are real. They are devastating. And sometimes, heartbreakingly, they are irreversible.
Today, two families are sitting shiva for babies who should still be alive. Dozens more parents are shaken to their core. And a nation must ask itself whether political battles — waged in courtrooms and press conferences — were allowed to trample the most vulnerable of all.
Children’s lives must never be collateral damage. Not ever.