Uzi Meshulam

Uzi Meshulam was born in 1952 in Petah Tikva

Meshulam was born in 1952 in Petah Tikva and grew up in its Pejah neighborhood, the son of David and Tziona. He studied at the Ner Etzion school. During his army service he was exposed to a chemical that caused all his hair to fall out, and he was recognized as a disabled IDF veteran.

He taught at the Moreshet religious school in Amishav and led youth activities in Moshav Bareket. In the late 1970s he began public activity on the Yemenite children issue and founded the Mishkan Ohalim association. He gave Torah lessons, mainly on Kabbalah and current affairs, and founded a yeshiva that finally settled in Rishon LeZion.

In 1994 a local dispute with a sewer contractor led to police involvement, and his followers fortified his home in Yehud with weapons, demanding a state inquiry into the missing children. Police surrounded the house for weeks. On May 10 Meshulam left to meet Police Commissioner Assaf Hefetz and was arrested, police raided the house, and follower Shlomi Assouline was killed.

Meshulam was convicted of ordering Molotov cocktails thrown at police and of obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to 8 years, later reduced to six and a half after he was cleared of one charge. In January 1995 the Cohen Commission was set up to investigate the disappearances.

Meshulam died in 2013 and was buried in Yehud.