High Court Orders Israeli Boy Orphaned in Cable Car Crash Sent to Italy

Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered a 6-year-old boy whose parents died in a cable car crash in Italy in May be returned to his paternal aunt in Pavia, Italy, upholding a decision by an Israeli family court. The court ordered Eitan Biran returned to his aunt Aya Biran, an Israeli living in Italy, by December 12. Eitan was the sole survivor of the accident.

Eitan and his parents were living in Pavia at the time of the accident, that also killed his brother and great grandparents. In late September, the boy’s maternal grandfather Shmulik Peleg spirited Eitan out of Italy and brought him to Israel illegally on a private jet. An Italian court had ordered that Eitan’s aunt remain his guardian after he was released from the hospital following the accident. Italy issued an international warrant for Peleg’s arrest on kidnapping charges and arrested another man, an Israeli citizen resident of Cyprus, who helped Peleg get Eitan out of Italy.