The footage shows Carmel Mouda, the 25-year-old manager at the Baby Love day care center in Rosh Ha’ayin, tying up children, smothering them with blankets, force-feeding them and physically abusing them. Other employees at the center are seen witnessing the abuse without intervening to stop it.
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) July 4, 2019
Mouda was arrested by authorities three weeks ago, according to the Times of Israel.
“I’m in shock,” a parent whose child attends the day care told Channel 13 news. “My son is in almost every video tied to a chair or [tied up] on the floor, and this isn’t even everything. The police showed me even worse videos.”
Another parent whose child attended the center also said that she hopes the daycare manager faces the death penalty. “I can dream,” she said.
Israeli Sergeant Fraidi Kamenetsky said that police have yet to file charges against Mouda, but plan to request that she be held in custody while proceedings take place.
An unidentified employee was also arrested on charges of witnessing the abuse and potentially subjecting the children to violence as well. The employee is currently under house arrest.
Several protesters are slated to demonstrate at locations around the country as parents call for better childcare regulations as well as tougher sentences for day care centers that defy oversight laws.
“We cannot afford to sit idly by and do nothing,” Ahaz Agam, chairman of the National Parks Parents’ Committee and one of the protest organizers, told Channel News Asia. “Every passing day in which we do not advance the safety of children adds more victims.”
According to a report by Yediot Ahronot, abuse and negligence at childcare centers across Israel is a widespread, systematic issue.
