A Tel Aviv court ruled on Thursday that an Israeli boy whose parents died in an Italian cable car crash must be returned to his relatives in Italy, rejecting a request from the 6-year-old’s grandfather to keep him in Israel.
Eitan Biran has been at the center of a bitter custody battle between relatives in Italy and Israel since his parents, younger brother and great-grandparents were among 14 killed in May when a cable car slammed into a mountainside in northern Italy.
His maternal grandparents in Israel and his paternal relatives in Italy are both seeking custody. His family in Israel had asked an appeals court to halt his planned return to Italy, but the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court rejected the request.
“With all understanding of the pain of the appellant and the minor’s grandmother, there is no option but to dismiss the appeal. We order he be returned to Italy within 15 days,” the ruling said, noting that Biran’s grandfather had taken him from Italy illegally.
The family can still appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
The boy’s maternal grandfather, Shmulik Peleg, made headlines in September when he whisked Biran to Israel on a private jet against the wishes of his family in Italy.
Italy issued an international arrest warrant for Peleg on Wednesday, alleging that he kidnapped Biran when he took him from his aunt’s home and flew him to Israel.
The Biran family, with Eitan on the right. (Courtesy)
According to Italian daily Corriere Della Sera, warrants have been issued for Peleg as well as for Gabriel Abutubul Alon, a “contractor” who apparently drove the vehicle used to take Peleg and his grandson from Italy to neighboring Switzerland, where they boarded the flight to Israel.
Peleg has claimed he did not take a regular flight out of Italy because he wanted to travel with the child as fast as possible without exposing him to other people. The grandfather was questioned by Israeli police in September in connection with the kidnapping allegation, before being conditionally released. In an interview at the time, Peleg defended his decision to bring the child to Israel, saying it was in his best interest, and denying he kidnapped the boy.
Biran’s paternal relatives said he was taken without their knowledge and they had filed a legal complaint in Italy seeking his return.
At the time of the crash, Biran and his parents, Amit Biran and Tal Peleg, and his younger brother, Tom, had been living in Italy, where Amit Biran was studying medicine.
Aya Biran-Nirko, left, a paternal aunt of Eitan Biran, the boy who survived a cable car crash in Italy that killed his immediate family, arrives at court in Tel Aviv, October 8, 2021. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)
After his release from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment after the accident, Italian juvenile court officials ruled the child would live with a paternal aunt, Aya Biran, near Pavia, in northern Italy.
Last month a Tel Aviv court ordered the 6-year-old be returned to his relatives in Italy where he would remain in the custody of his aunt. The judge recognized her as a legitimate guardian based on a ruling by an Italian court and said Peleg had “unlawfully” removed the boy from his aunt’s care.
The court “ordered the return of the minor to his usual place of residence in Italy,” the country where he had been living since he was a month old, and noted that it is there that the boy’s future and well-being will be decided. In addition, Peleg was ordered to pay NIS 70,000 ($21,835) in court expenses.
The judge also called on the family to reconcile, saying it was in the boy’s interests.
The Pelegs appeal maintained that Aya Biran had never been officially granted custody over the child and claiming the boy wants to remain in Israel.
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