UnPromisedLand: Israeli Parents Fight Back

JERUSALEM, Israel, October 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Now that Hamas has freed Gilad Schalit, thousands of Israeli parents are asking the Ministry of Welfare to return their children being withheld from them by social workers. "The welfare system uses a 'divide-and-conquer' method to break up distressed families," says David Weisskopf, founder of the UnPromisedLand channel. (http://www.youtube.com/user/UnPromisedLand) The YouTube channel raises public awareness about ongoing corruption in the Israeli welfare system.

One of the victims, a retired elite air force pilot, alleges that social workers kidnapped his infant son to put up for adoption. Such allegations are nothing new. The most infamous case involved the disappearance of 1,033 Yemenite children in the 1950's. Those families maintain that social workers kidnapped and sold their babies to childless couples.

Another victim complains that social workers took her newborn baby at birth. According to a television interview, this mother alleges the social workers used an older daughter's "misbehavior in school" to justify taking away her newborn infant.

"Instead of diffusing family crisis, court-appointed social workers actually make the problem much worse with a devastating impact on our children. They isolate each victim by telling each one, 'You are the only problem'," Weisskopf states.  In reality, the Ministry of Welfare claimed 429,000 children were at-risk in 2010.  Though Israel has one of the lowest crime rates in the world, social workers cut children off from their biological parents 20 times more frequently than the most dangerous cities in the United States.

A native of Chicago; Weisskopf has worked as a child welfare professional, consulted with the director of the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services, served as an advisor to the chairman of the Knesset Social Welfare Lobby and was a licensed foster parent for some of the state's hardest cases. All of which amounted to nothing in the Israeli welfare system when it came to his own children.

"During the first year of my divorce proceedings, they only allowed me one hour per week with my children.  If they could do this to me so easily, how many others have they done this to?"

Over 50,000 viewers have visited the UnPromisedLand channel on YouTube in its first month.  The YouTube channel gathers stories from victims of Israel's abusive welfare system. Weisskopf posted satirical videos using exerts from his own real-life therapy session to reveal a glimpse of the horrific treatment victims routinely face. "I wanted the audience to laugh and hurt at the same time."

The UnPromisedLand channel links to a database of Israeli embassies for viewers to write to their nearest Israeli embassy and find out why donations from local communities get used to destroy Israeli families. "International supporters have a right to know and Israeli embassies have an obligation to Israel's supporters," says Weisskopf.  "Like Noam and Aviva Schalit, we are parents who call on the Israeli government to return our children."\

Contact: R. David Weisskopf, c/o UnPromisedLand Channel, 2364 Jackson St., #202, Stoughton, WI  53585, +1-(608)-492-1477, [email protected]

SOURCE UnPromisedLand