Six-year-old Eitan Biran, who survived a cable car crash in Italy in May, must be returned to his relatives there within 15 days, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled Thursday, upholding an earlier ruling in a bitter custody battle with family members in Israel.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Biran's parents and younger sibling were among 14 people killed 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.

Ronen Dalyahu, a lawyer for the relatives in Israel, confirmed the ruling, which was issued late Thursday, and said they are considering an appeal. Lawyers for the paternal relatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This week, an Italian judge issued an international arrest warrant for the boy's grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, who whisked Eitan to Israel on a private jet in September.

Last month, an Israeli court ordered the boy to be returned to his relatives in Italy, where he was living before the crash, saying that was "the place of his normal residence." It also ordered Peleg, who had brought him to Israel against the wishes of his family members in Italy, to pay around $20,000 in expenses and attorney fees.

Peleg has defended his decision to spirit the boy away, saying it was in the child's best interest. He drove Eitan from Italy to Switzerland without the other relatives' knowledge before flying him to Israel. He has not commented on the Italian arrest warrant.

Eitan's paternal relatives say he was taken without their knowledge and they had filed a legal complaint in Italy seeking his return.

Eitan and his parents were living in Italy at the time of the accident. After his release from a Turin hospital following weeks of treatment, Italian juvenile court officials ruled the child would live with a paternal aunt, Aya Biran, near Pavia, in northern Italy.

In the earlier ruling, the Tel Aviv family court said Eitan's residence was in Italy, where his family moved when he was only a month old. The judge concluded that his relocation to Israel was unlawful and violated the guardianship rights of his aunt.

The judge also called on the family to reconcile, saying it was in the boy's interests.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israeli court: Boy who survived cable car tragedy must be returned to Italy appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

An Italian judge has issued an international arrest warrant for Shmuel Peleg, the grandfather accused of kidnapping his grandson, Eitan Biran, the Italian press reported Wednesday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Biran, 6, is the sole survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy in May that killed 14 people, including his father, Amit Biran, his mother, Tal Peleg, his one-year-old brother, Tom, and his great-grandparents Barbara Cohen Konisky and Itshak Cohen.

After the tragedy, the boy was assigned to the custody of his paternal aunt, Aya Biran, who lived near Eitan's family in the city of Pavia, where Amit, his father, studied medicine.

Peleg, the child's maternal grandfather, allegedly abducted the boy by taking him to Israel in September.

A warrant was also issued for Gabriel Abutubul Alon, a 50-year-old Israeli man who allegedly drove the car in which Eitan was taken to the Swiss city of Lugano and then flown to Tel Aviv on a private jet.

According to the Italian prosecutor, Peleg and Alon carried out "a well prepared strategic plan" for the abduction of the child and bringing him to Israel with them.

Judge Iris Ilotovich-Segal of a Tel Aviv family court ruled on October 25 that the child must be returned to Italy and to the care of his paternal aunt.

The decision was released in view of the Hague Convention regarding the abduction of minors.

"We are waiting to see what will happen at the international level, i.e. the response of the Israeli authorities to the international arrest warrant," Pavia Prosecutor Mario Venditti told the Italian wire service Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA) following the judge's ruling. "Then we will proceed with the closure of the investigation and the request for a trial."

On Thursday, a Tel Aviv family court is expected to hear the appeal submitted by Peleg and his wife, Eitan's grandmother, against its October 25 ruling. The family is reportedly also working via legal channels in Italy to annul the aunt's guardianship.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Italy: Int'l arrest warrant issued for grandfather of Eitan Biran appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Five-year-old Eitan Biran, the Israeli boy who was the sole survivor of the May 23 cable car disaster in Italy that killed 14 people, including his parents, younger brother, and great grandparents, does not remember the incident and still does not know that his family members are dead, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The child, the report added, was released from intensive care after doctors concluded his life was no longer in danger and that he was not suffering from any neurological or internal damage.

According to Corriere della Sera, Biran's aunt and grandmother, together with hospital psychologists, have decided it was still too early to tell the child what happened to his family.

Amit Biran, Eitan's father, reportedly protected his son in his final seconds during the tragic accident, likely saving his life.

On Monday it was reported that Biran had seen "significant improvement" over the weekend, had even started eating on his own, but only soft food, and was speaking with his aunt.

The three suspects in the cable car disaster were allowed to leave prison Sunday after a judge indicated that most of the blame fell on a service technician who intentionally disabled the car's emergency brake because it kept locking spontaneously.

Judge Donatella Banci Buonamici said there wasn't sufficient evidence suggesting the owner of the Mottarone cable car company, Luigi Nerini, or the maintenance chief, Enrico Perocchio, knew the technician had deactivated the brake on several occasions even before the May 23 disaster.

After evaluating the prosecutors' case and their request for the continued detention of the three, Buonamici ordered those two freed while allowing the technician, Gabriele Tadini, to leave under house arrest. The three men left the Verbania prison early Sunday, accompanied by their lawyers.

The tragedy occurred when the lead cable of the Mottarone funicular overlooking Lake Maggiore in northern Italy snapped and the emergency brake failed to prevent the cable car from reeling backward down the support line. The cable car pulled off the line entirely when it hit a support pylon, crashed to the ground and then rolled down the mountain until it was stopped by a stand of trees.

It is not known why the cable snapped.

The Italian region of Piedmont observed a minute of silence at noon Sunday, and flags were flying at half-staff to mark the moment one week ago when the disaster struck.

Tadini admitted during questioning that he had left a fork-shaped bracket on the cable car's emergency brake to disable it because it kept locking on its own while the car was in service, said his lawyer Marcello Perillo.

Speaking to reporters outside the Verbania prison, Perillo said Tadini never would have left the bracket in place if he thought the lead cable would snap, as it did.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Report: Israeli boy doesn't remember Italy cable car disaster appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Five Israelis were among the 14 people killed in Italy Sunday after a cable car they were taking up the Alps plummeted to the ground, the Foreign Ministry said. The victims were members of the same family – two maternal grandparents, two parents and their two-year-old child. The couple's older son, six years old, has been hospitalized in critical condition.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Foreign Ministry on Monday morning identified the victims as Amit Biran, 30, and Tal Peleg-Biran, 26, and their child, Tom, and the grandparents, Yitzhak Cohen, 82, and Barbara Cohen, 70. The Birans lived in Italy for some time and were active in the local Jewish community.

Israel's Ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar, said in an interview with Army Radio that the child had an emergency operation and was in intensive care. "The matter is being investigated. We will not rest and not give up until we find out exactly what happened there," he assured. 

The mayor of Stresa, where the incident occurred, said it appeared that a cable broke, sending the car careening until it hit a pylon and then fell to the ground. At that point, the car overturned "two or three times before hitting some trees," said Mayor Marcella Severino. Some of those who died were thrown from the cabin.

The Italian government announced a commission to investigate the disaster, which is likely to renew questions about the quality and safety of Italy's transport infrastructure.

Images from the site showed the crumpled car in a clearing of a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. The car was believed to have fallen around 15 meters (50 feet), according to Italian media.

"It was a terrible, terrible scene," Severino told Italy's SkyTG24.

The plunge on the Stresa-Mottarone line happened about 100 yards before the final pylon, said Walter Milan, spokesman for Italy's Alpine rescue service.

Milan noted that the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened, after coronavirus lockdowns in Italy curtailed travel and forced the suspension of many leisure activities. 

Italian Transport Minister Enrico Giovannini announced a commission to look into the tragedy and said he had already requested data on the maintenance work and inspections done on the line in the past. He planned to visit the site Monday.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in offering his condolences, called for the "rigorous respect of all security norms" in transportation.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post 5 Israelis killed in cable car crash in Italy, 1 child in critical condition appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The National Infrastructure Committee on Monday rejected a battery of petitions against the proposed cable car and greenlit the contentious project. The estimated $55 million project, which is being advanced by the Tourism Ministry, is expected to serve many tourists and worshippers who may want to visit the Western Wall and other parts of the old city.

The cable car would ferry tourists from a renovated train station complex. The proposed route spans several verdant valleys and runs past the city's iconic walls.

The project has faced many protestations from Palestinians, environmentalists, urban planners, architects, and some religious minority groups.

The post Contentious Jerusalem cable car to Old City gets green light appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.