Israel court rules boy who survived cable car crash be returned to family in Italy

Fourteen people, including Eitan Biran’s parents and younger brother, died when a gondola plunged to the ground in May

Last month, while visiting the boy in Italy, his maternal grandfather flew him without permission to Israel

Reading Time:2 minutes

Eitan Biran’s maternal grandfather Shmulik Peleg. Photo: AP

Published: 9:49pm, 25 Oct 2021Updated: 10:07pm, 25 Oct 2021

An Israeli court ruled on Monday that a six-year-old boy, the sole survivor of an Italian cable car disaster and the focus of a cross-border custody battle, must be returned to relatives in Italy after his grandfather took him to the Middle Eastern country.

Eitan Biran had been living with his paternal aunt Aya Biran in Italy after his parents, younger brother and 11 other people died when a gondola plunged to the ground in northern Italy in May.

Last month, while visiting the boy, his maternal grandfather, without the aunt’s consent, drove him to Switzerland and from there chartered a private jet to Israel.

Aya Biran, the boy’s aunt, said that according to The Hague Convention on the return of abducted children, this amounted to kidnapping and petitioned a family court in Tel Aviv for the child’s return.

The court on Monday determined that the boy’s “regular residence” was in Italy, and that he had lived there since his parents had moved from Israel when he was about a month old.