Israel’s Supreme Court Delays Return to Italy of Boy Whose Parents Died in Cable Car Crash

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that a 6-year-old boy whose parents died in a cable car crash in Italy in May remain with his maternal grandparents in Israel pending the court’s decision on whether he should be returned to his paternal aunt in Pavia, Italy as ordered by an Israeli family court. 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 last week.