Public struggle for mother suspected of kidnapping her son Israel today

The family of Galit Tzarfati, who hid with her 5-year-old son after the custody was transferred to his father, started a fight for her release from detention. • They claim there is evidence that the father sexually assaulted the son

• Galit French with her son

  Photography: 

  Courtesy of the family

Anastasia (French) Yagurov, the sister of Galit French who is suspected of abducting her son who was transferred to his father's custody, started a public struggle with a group of women to release her sister from detention and "rescue her son from his father," as they defined it.

Also their purpose is to bring about the opening of a retrial, in order to return the son to his mother. 

"Galit has been detained since Thursday evening, after fleeing with her five-year-old son, so as not to hand him over to a divorcee, whom she accuses of harming her son. Thousands of women are now coming to her aid. 6,200 women have signed since Friday, demanding a retrial and examination. "All the evidence and proof, before the child moves from Galit's custody to his father's custody - which she claims harms the child," said nurse Anastasia.   

A woman was arrested on suspicion of aiding a mother in abducting her son // Photo: Police spokeswoman

According to the nurse, the family has a number of facts, which were not taken by the court.

Among other things, the nurse claims that when the joint child was two years old, he returned from a visit to his father, and Galit discovered blood in the diaper.

The baby said it hurt him in the torso and that Dad made him hurt.

Galit rushed to the hospital and the doctors who examined him there determined that there was clear evidence of penetration.

According to the nurse, the doctors' testimony was rejected as inadmissible in court because they examined the child without the father's consent on suspicion of harm. 

Another allegation raised by the nurse is that a psychologist who specializes in identifying sexual assault examined the child and testified in expert testimony that the child was sexually assaulted.

This testimony was also rejected and became inadmissible, Anastasia claims, because Galit took the child to her without the father's consent.

The same is true of the opinion of a social worker, whom the nurse claims to have examined the child and reached a similar conclusion. 

According to Anastasia, "an opinion was submitted to the court by a social worker who did not bother to meet the child and ruled that since Galit photographed her son when she checked to see if he was harmed, she is" an alienated mother who harms the father's relationship with his son. " 

The nurse also claims that "Galit fought for the last three years to save her son. A fight that cost her over half a million shekels, and in the end she escaped with her son just before she had to be transferred to his father's custody, who was denied custody. "But there she was sent to the family court and from there back to the police and back, God forbid. Nothing was done with these complaints."

The family members have set up a petition, which they claim has been signed so far by about 6,200 women, since Friday, demanding a retrial and examination of all the evidence.

"As women," the petition reads, "we identify with Galit's courage and self-sacrifice for her son and we believe in her."

Galit's family said: "We demand that Galit be brought home, get the support of the family she needs, and we ask that a new investigation be opened that will be conducted properly, by investigators authorized to work with children who have been sexually assaulted."

Advocate Ruth Makhanes, representing Galit Tzarfati, said: "This is a brave mother, who protects her young son from sexual assault, when the case contains medical records and expert opinions, which indicate a suspicion that the child was allegedly sexually assaulted by his father.

"The welfare authorities covered the above suspicion throughout and the court relied in its ruling on the welfare surveys ..." Court ignored opinions of experts in the field of sexual abuse of minors, which were submitted to the case, according to which there is a real suspicion that the minor is being sexually abused. " 

Advocate Makhanes adds: "At the end of 2018, following one of the cases of abuse, Kaplan Hospital reported sexual abuse of a minor to the Child Welfare Council and the welfare authorities, but again the authorities did nothing with the above report. The family doctor also asked to appoint a doctor. Legal and intervention of a welfare clerk in the matter, following the last injury case from April 2020. The child told the doctor that his father was harming him. However, the welfare authorities did nothing and appointed a forensic doctor to examine the matter. Nor was a forensic doctor appointed by the court. "On the other hand, to send her son to undergo further injuries, so in accordance with her duty as a mother to protect her son, she hid with him for two weeks, until she was apprehended by the police and, unfortunately, was not wronged."

According to her, there is still an appeal in the State Attorney's Office, which the mother filed about closing the complaint file against the father with the police, regarding the latest injury case.

No decision has yet been made on the matter.

"Failure to examine the suspicion of abusing the minor and handing him over to the father allegedly suspected of the act is a failure of the system to protect the minor and will cause him great harm."