Etty Peleg-Cohen arrived last Saturday from Milan in the northern Italian city of Fabia, where her grandson, 6-year-old Eitan Biran, is the only one who survived the cable car disaster in Italy three months ago.
In the disaster, Etty lost her daughter Tal, Eitan's mother;
Tal's husband, Amit;
The toddler grandson, two-year-old Tom;
Her father Izzy;
And his second wife Barbara.
A court in Turin granted custody of Eitan to Aya Biran, Amit's sister, until the age of 18. After legal battles, the evidentiary arrangements stipulated that Grandma Etty could meet with the child for two and a half hours, three times a week.
Etty knew the meeting would be more charged than usual.
Three days earlier, her children Guy, Gali and Aviv had held a press conference in Israel, raising serious allegations against Aunt Aya.
They claimed she was allegedly acting to keep Eitan away from his mother's family, described him as a hostage, and noted that she enrolled him in a Catholic school.
"I asked Maya to allow me to walk with Eitan outside, as usual, so that while I was allotted I could be with him alone," Etty says in her first interview since the disaster.
"She refused, perhaps because of our struggle against her, and asked us to stay indoors. I guess she wanted to keep an eye on us.
"While sitting in the living room, I saw a video camera on the television documenting us. I ignored, even though I think we deserve privacy. I sat on the floor with Ethan and we played cards. When he beat me, he said, 'I always beat Dad, too.' He hardly talked about his parents.
"When we ran out of time, he had a sad look. He asked when I would come again, and I did not know what to answer him, because Aya informed me the day before that this was my last visit. I came out with tears in my eyes. On Sunday she withdrew from the ban, after our lawyers And she talked. "
The horrific tragedy, which shook the country and wiped out three generations of Etty's family, failed to unite the shattered families of Tal Peleg and Amit Biran.
A deep chasm has opened up between the parties around the place where Eitan grew up, who celebrated his 6th birthday last month. Amit's family wants the child to stay in Italy, his place of residence in recent years, while Tal's family thinks he should grow up in Israel.
Now Etty and her children are struggling on two legal levels.
They will soon file a new application for custody of him in a juvenile court in Italy, and have even filed a lawsuit in the Israeli Family Court to allow Gali, Tal's sister, to adopt Eitan legally.
"His place is in Israel," says Etty emphatically.
"Tal and Amit announced that they would return to Israel next year, and even bought an apartment in Ramat Hasharon. Why should I go to the courts in Italy to hug my only grandson? To be clear, this is not our conflict with the Biran family, but bringing Eitan to Israel, where they wanted His parents will grow up. "
Amit, Tal, Tom and Eitan Biran.
"Tal was excited about the idea of becoming a mother,"
"Crazy love"
The cable car disaster occurred on May 23 on the summit of Mount Motrona above Lake Maggiore.
The tourist site was closed for a long time because of the corona, and opened in April.
Towards noon, 15 people entered the red car, including Tal (27), Amit (30), Eitan, Tom (2), Izzy Cohen (81) and Barbara Koninsky-Cohen (71).
After 20 minutes of slow climbing they reached the summit, and the caravan approached the final stop.
Before the doors opened, the cable that pulled the cable was torn, and it spun back at high speed, until it reached the cable-carrying stand.
There he swayed for a few seconds and fell to the ground from a height of about 40 meters.
The rescue forces were sure that no one had survived, and were surprised to find Eitan alive, even though he was severely injured in the head and limbs.
An entire country watched with bated breath the condition of Eitan, who was taken to a hospital in Turin, where he miraculously recovered within a few days.
The police investigation in Italy revealed that the operators of the site forgot to remove a certain component from the cable car brake, so it did not work.
Three suspects were arrested on suspicion of causing death by negligence: the owner of the company that operated the cable car, the business manager of the site and the engineer.
They were released from custody after four days, and no charges have yet been filed against them.
Since the beginning of June, at the end of the days of mourning for her family members, Etty (57) has been on the Italy-Israel line.
She does not currently work in her private business, coordinates financing between real estate entrepreneurs and banks, and makes sure to be with them at every possible moment.
She is currently staying in Milan with her daughter Aviv.
Talks with her take place late at night, and her mood is affected both by the custody hearings in Italy and by the exciting meetings with the grandson, who until this week had only moved in a wheelchair, and has now started walking with a treadmill.
Occasionally she stops the interview, and sets aside to wipe away her tears.
A small smile appears on her tormented face as she talks about her four children, whom she gave birth to with Shmulik (58), from whom she divorced.
Guy (32) is a portfolio manager at El Al;
Gali (29) is an economist working in a private appraisal firm;
Tal was a psychology student in Italy and a baking business owner;
And Aviv (22) is a mortgage adviser, and will soon begin studying law and economics.
In 2016, she remarried to Chris Kammerer, 54, an American Jew who served in the Marines and was wounded in Afghanistan, whom she met on a trip to Alaska.
They live in Ramat Aviv.
"Tal was special as a baby," she says.
"Pictures of her were published in the newspapers because she was very beautiful. She would traverse her sister Gali, who is two years her senior, with admiration. When she grew up, she studied economics and psychology at Alliance High School.
"Upon graduation, in June 2012, Tal saw a picture of a colleague on a dating site and sent him a message. He then served in the IDF as a Shaham policeman. It was crazy love. Until her enlistment in November, it was difficult to separate them, "In New Zealand. He planned to be there for six months, but returned after a month because he missed it."
Etty pulls out her cell phone and searches the photo album.
"You see," she brings the phone closer to the webcam, "here is a selfie he took on the beach in New Zealand, after writing on the sand 'I love you Tal'. When he returned to Israel, he moved to live with us in Ramat Aviv. Of Gali, Virin, Aviv's boyfriend. I always said I had seven children. We were inseparable, and we spent vacations abroad and in Israel together. "
I am with Ethan.
"All the love I have has drained into him,"
Tal served in the Kirya in Tel Aviv as a security guard (data communications and encryption operator), and returned home every day.
I looked at her and said, 'You're pregnant.'
She smiled.
She said she did not want to have an abortion.
"I promised to help her with everything she needed. I wanted her to go with her heart. Her brothers were shocked at first, but Tal was enthusiastic about the idea of becoming a mother, and swept them away too. She graduated from the IDF, took a course, and started working as an investment consultant.
"Amit got pregnant in adulthood. He worked as a bartender, and planned to study medicine in Italy. They got married right away, and continued to live with me.
"Eitan was born in July 2015. When he was a month and a half old, they flew to Fabia, where a colleague started studying medicine, following his sister who studied medicine there and stayed to live there. It was the first time Tel left the house. We talked every day, and once every two or three months to her".
In parallel with his studies, Amit worked as a security guard at a Jewish school in Milan, an hour's drive from Fabia.
Tal started a small business for baking challah and rolls, where she also sold hummus, shakshuka and falafel.
She did the homework herself, on her bicycle.
She also worked for an Israeli company that organizes tours in Italy, and prepared the tourist lists.
During her pregnancy with Tom, she began studying psychology at the Open University of Israel.
She was due to receive the degree in about a year.
"I admired her perseverance," Etty wiped away her tears.
"She came to the exams at the Israeli consulate in Rome, a four-hour train ride away, and little Tommy was always with her. I knew it was not easy for her, but she followed her husband wholeheartedly. Three years ago, Amit's parents moved not far from them and Amit's sister.
"Tal did not have an easy time with his family. I know she confronted one of his family members because she felt that our family was underestimated. I have no idea why. Maybe because we are Spaniards, maybe because I did not hide my political views, which are right-wing. She did not tell. "I have everything, so that I do not get angry. Only with Gali did she speak openly."
"My legs failed"
Etty's voice choked as she tried to recreate the last days before the disaster.
Again she got up, stepped out of camera range, and a soft cry was heard in the background.
After a few seconds she returns.
"Is it okay for me to call you 'Tali'? I have a hard time contacting another person named Tal," she asks quietly.
"Sometimes, after visiting Eitan, I pass by the apartment where Tal and Amit lived, but do not go inside. Since the disaster, I have not seen my daughter's belongings or Tommy's toys. Everything now belongs to Eitan, including Tal's iPhone. And as you know, Eitan There is a guardian who decides everything. "
Friday, May 21, two days before the disaster, was a very exciting day for me.
Guy announced that he was bringing his new partner, Moran, to dinner.
"Everyone was home when they came in together," her eyes gleamed.
"Tal was with us in a video call from Italy. I felt I had eight children. I could not have been more complete.
"There is only one project left, about which I secretly told only Tal: I wanted to buy a large piece of land in the Sharon area, and build houses for all of us. I imagined how I was surrounded by children and grandchildren.
"That evening, in a later conversation, Tal told me that she was planning a third child. That this time she wanted a daughter, and that she had arranged with Gali to get pregnant together. There was no limit to my happiness."
At night she also managed to talk to her father, who was in Italy with his wife.
The two were hosted at Tal and Amit's home in Fabia.
"My father planned to do a lake tour with Barbara, and I reminded him that I was coming to Tal in a week, and that we would meet there. He and Tal said they were going to go hiking in the Alps the next day, and later come to Lake Maggiore to sleep there. Was supposed to continue the trip, and Tal and her family were supposed to return to Fabia, because a colleague had to study.
"My last phone call with Tal was on Sunday morning. She packed her clothes before leaving the hotel. I went to work meetings in Tel Aviv. I did not open the Internet or listen to the radio. When I returned home in the afternoon, a friend from New York called and said there was an accident in northern Italy. Amit's University was there. She asked me to check on Tal.
"I told her everything was fine. I talked to Tal in the morning, and it was clear to me that she was already at home in Fabia. I had no bad feeling. After a quarter of an hour, when the friend called again, I decided to call Tal. Her phone rang, but she did not answer. I sent her "I was looking for you, call me." I was calm.
"After ten minutes, a friend called and asked about Tal, too, and then I began to understand that something was wrong. I closed the call, and called a friend from New York. I asked her, 'What do you know and do not want to tell me?'. She replied that there was a tragedy in Italy, Their details were published on one of their websites.
"My legs failed, as if someone had landed me a load of ten tons. I did not know that the news was published in Israel as well, but without names.
"I opened the link the company sent, and my eyes darkened. It was reported there that the two grandchildren also died, and then I saw the names of my father and Barbara.
"The whole world was spinning around me. I was home alone and screaming like crazy. I felt like someone ripped a part of me off the ax. The body could not contain such an intensity of pain. We are four generations in the family, and three of them were erased in a second.
Eitan Biran.
"When I walked in the door Ethan screamed excitedly 'Nona with me, Nona with me', which is 'Grandma with me'. He kind of asked, 'Where have you been so far?'"
"I did not know what to do first. Call the children? To divorce my Shmulik? To try Tal again? Maybe it's just a nightmare? I kept mumbling, 'It's a mistake, it's a mistake.' Shmulik called, saying hysterically: "Our family has been deleted. Tal, Amit and the children have left."
"I have a blackout from here. I have no idea how I drove to Shmulik's house in Petah Tikva, or how we informed Guy and Gali. We did not call Aviv because she spent time in Greece with a friend and was due to return the next day. I only remember talking to the Foreign Ministry, but they said no." They still have all the details. "
When did you notify Chris?
"At first I did not dare. I was afraid. I knew he would collapse. I waited until I had no choice, until the names were published. I had to be strong for him and the children.
"I operated on an automaton. I thought it did not make sense, that it did not happen to me. Shmulik suggested that we leave for Italy immediately, but I preferred to wait in the country for an official announcement. I was in denial. After two hours, Amit's mother called and announced that Eitan had survived."
Aviv enters her mother's room and joins the conversation.
"I will never forget the moment I found out about Tal's death," she says.
"I was in a restaurant, and I saw that I had a lot of unanswered messages and calls. Some of the messages were from Israeli journalists, who shamelessly asked if I was Tal Peleg's sister.
"I got scared and called my dad on video. When I saw his face, and I heard Gali and Mom crying in the background, I collapsed. I threw the phone on the floor, and the screen broke. I fell to the ground screaming.
" By evening I was already obsessively reading all the reports.
I was looking for a flight to Israel and there was none, so I had to wait for the morning.
"I walked around the streets sleepless all night, and Israeli friends followed me and guarded me."
Remains of the cable car after the crash "After two hours, Amit's mother called and announced that Eitan had survived", Photo: AP
"There is no such thing as no dew"
Aviv's long hair wraps around the screen as she shows pictures that Tal took on the day of the disaster and sent to the family group.
One of them shows the entire family killed, including the grandfather and his wife, while sailing.
Three pictures document the last moments of their lives: in one, Ethan is standing in the caravan next to Izzy, and they are both looking out;
The other two are of the landscape itself, just before reaching the summit.
"Mom, look at the time," Aviv whispers.
"Write up 12:01. They were killed at 12:06."
Etty: "Do you know that Shetl, Amit and the children were not supposed to be on the cable car? Apparently they wanted to stay a little longer with Grandpa."
Aviv: "My mother did not attend the funeral of Tal, Amit and Tommy, which took place in Moshav Aviel near Binyamina - where Amit's parents live. She went there but was unable to, and stayed in the car. She only went to the funeral of my grandfather and his wife in the Yarkon cemetery."
Etty: "I could not see how to put my daughter and my grandson in the ground. To this day I can not go to where they are. There is no such thing as no dew, no Tommy, no father. They are just far away.
"I feel Tal all the time. Sometimes I see through her eyes the moment the cable is torn and the cable car goes back. Tal sure held Tommy and shouted at Amit. She did not know they would die. The Italians said Amit saved Eitan's life."
Shmulik and his son Guy landed in Italy the day after the disaster, to stay with Eitan in the hospital.
The boy was anesthetized, because of the treatment of the many fractures in his body.
At his bedside in intensive care sat Aunt Aya (41), married and a mother of two, who has lived in Italy for 17 years and works as a doctor in prisons.
"On the same day, Aya informed Shmulik that a temporary guardian had to be appointed for Eitan, otherwise the welfare services would appoint a person on their behalf or take him to an institution," says Etty.
"She offered herself, because she is local and since Shmulik will be forced to return to Israel for funerals, and will not be able to make decisions on their behalf. We agreed, as long as it was a temporary appointment.
"The next day, May 25, a judge from Turin arrived at the hospital. The guardianship hearing took place in one of the rooms, with the participation of Shmulik and Guy, Aya and Eitan's doctors. The judge spoke only Italian, with Aya translating into Hebrew. The judge nodded her head.
"The next day, Eitan opened his eyes. Shmulik and Guy accompanied the coffins on their way to Israel. With them on the plane were Amit's father and two brothers.
"After the funeral in Aviel, I got out of the car and talked to his father. I invited him to sit with us for seven, but he preferred to sit for seven in the moshav, in the house where Amit grew up.
"The next day my father's funeral took place. Amit's father did not come. I called him several times, but he did not answer. On Saturday night he contacted me and announced that he had returned to Italy.
"Shmulik flew to Italy on Sunday. Towards evening another bomb was dropped on me. Aya's husband informed Shmulik that they had been given permanent guardianship over Eitan. I was in the market. One.
"Aya sent me the judge's decision, and my heart broke. Then I recovered and hired an Italian lawyer to appeal the verdict. Shmulik told the lawyer about a conversation he had with Eitan at the hospital. Eitan told him he did not want to live with Aya, "But to return to the house where he lived with his father and mother. When Shmulik replied that it was impossible, Eitan asked to come to Israel."
"Eitan made me a mezuzah"
In the parking lot below Etty's apartment in Ramat Aviv, a new red Renault is parked, which she bought a month before the disaster for Tal and Amit.
"They were supposed to come to the country in July, and I wanted them to be comfortable," she says.
"I am not able to sell the car, because then it will be clear that Tal will not return. When Eitan returns here, I will drive him in this vehicle."
Eitan was released from the hospital on June 10, but Etty first met him only on July 29.
“A month and a half passed until I, as a bereaved grandmother, was able to hug my only grandchild, and that too only after approval from the court in Fabia.
"As part of one of the appeals against the guardianship, I was allowed to meet him twice a week, for two hours. And recently it was decided that we would meet three times a week for two and a half hours. A family member who has. "
What did your first meeting look like?
"I arrived at Aya's house, with Aviv and Gali, and when I walked in the door Eitan screamed excitedly 'Nona with me, Nona with me,' which is 'Grandma with me.' He kind of asked, 'Where have you been so far?' And he hugged me, and put his head on my shoulder. Seeing him alive was like a dream for me. All the love I had drained to him.
"We brought him Lego, assembly games, books in Hebrew, chocolate and Bamba. Tal always asked us to bring her Bamba and Halva from Israel. After we played, I reminded him that in two days he has a birthday and I asked what he wants to do. Aya told me on the side that she better not celebrate, In order not to make him have difficult memories, I did not agree with her.
"At the end of the visit, before I left, Eitan cried. I cried too. Why do we have to meet like this? He did not lose enough? We even brought up the birthday issue in court. In the end we celebrated the two families together, in a pizzeria in the Fabia."
Etty and Ethan on his sixth birthday, last month,
In the videos she filmed with me, Eitan is seen wearing a shirt and tie, laughing at a clown who was invited to the event, and enthusiastically opening the presents.
"There is no visit without gifts from us, but once I came out with a gift from him," she is excited and pulls out a small, elongated cardboard box with a painting of the Israeli flag on it.
"I talked to him about mezuzahs and their meaning, and he wanted to make me one as a gift. Then he made another one for himself. He later drew the Israeli flag on a page, and signed his name on the back in Hebrew. This is the day he first mentioned his mother, and said she would draw With him like that, as I do. "
Does he remember what happened?
"He does not talk about the cable car, and I do not mention Tal and Amit, so as not to burden him. Sometimes he says on his own initiative that Mom and Dad went, and Tommy is in heaven. When I say goodbye to him after a trip outside, he is angry and cries. Only a blind man does not see his longing to be "With us. I feel alienated from the law."
Do you have an appreciation for why Amit's family insists on guardianship?
"Eitan's story touched the hearts of organizations and charities in Italy, including the Jewish community and the bicycle race organization, Giro d'Italia. Hundreds of thousands of euros have been raised for him so far, not to mention the compensation coming from insurance companies. So maybe money has a role here.
"I have no interest in any penny, for my part all the money will be kept for Eitan in trust with the Biran family. Only his good is before our eyes. Eitan has lost his parents and brother, and we do not want him to lose his mother's extended family as well."
Doesn't it make sense to you that Amit's family wants to raise him out of love?
"Then the two families have to raise him together."
But these are two countries.
"If the family in Italy had returned to Israel to fulfill the wishes of Amit and Tal, we would not have fought like this. We want Eitan to grow up as a Jew, not to forget the tradition and what nation he belongs to."
Who came up with the idea of adoption?
"Gali talked about it as soon as it became known that Eitan was alive. It was natural, Tal was her best friend, and they talked a lot about Eitan's growing up. To be on the safe side, Gali had already enrolled him in a school near her home.
What do you think about the fact that the defendants in default are free, and that no indictment has yet been filed against them?
"My head is not in this, but only in Eitan."
"We begged an outside psychologist"
The family will soon submit the additional application for examination of guardianship to the Juvenile Court in Milan.
"There is a long saga here, part of which is immoral in our eyes," she says.
"There was a protocol sent late, arguments about our powers and appeals, which were not accepted. We feel there was no in-depth examination, by psychologists and social workers, in which country Ethan would be better off. I just know his parents wanted him to grow up here, where most of his family, including that of His father.
"טל ועמית ביקרו לא מעט בישראל, ושהו כאן גם בתקופת הסגרים. בכל פעם שהם היו אמורים לחזור, איתן ביקש להישאר בארץ. הוריו היו מדברים איתו ועם טומי בעברית, ושוחחו איתו על יהדות ועל ישראל".
איתן לא יכול לגדול גם באיטליה על ערכי היהדות?
"באחד הביקורים שלי אצל איה, שמתי לב שאין לה מזוזה על הדלת. לא ראיתי סממן יהודי אחר בבית. ב־13 באוגוסט פורסמה בעיתון 'לה־סטמפה' כתבה על איתן, וכשתרגמו לנו אותה, נחרדתי. בכותרת נכתב שאיתן נרשם לבית ספר יסודי, שמנוהל על ידי נזירות. מנהלת בית הספר אישרה לעיתון שאיתן יתחיל ללמוד שם בספטמבר. זו לא המורשת שעמית וטל רצו להנחיל לו, זה בדיוק ההפך".
איש מקצוע בדק עם איתן מה הוא רוצה?
"התחננתי כמה פעמים בפני בתי המשפט שימנו לאיתן פסיכולוג חיצוני, אבל עד כה זה לא קרה".
את משפחת פלג מלווה לאחרונה עו"ד רונן דליהו, המתמחה בדיני משפחה. הוא זה שהגיש בשם גלי ובעלה את תביעת האימוץ בישראל. "משפחת פלג נתנה את אישורה לאפוטרופסות זמנית, ולא הסכימה בשום שלב לאפוטרופסות קבועה. בארץ היו ממנים פסיכולוג ועובדת סוציאלית, ולא מקבלים החלטה לפני עריכת תסקיר, הבוחן את טובתו של הילד".
עו"ד רונן דליהו,
לבית המשפט בישראל יש סמכות לדון בתביעת אימוץ גם אם הילד נמצא בחו"ל?
"כן. שלחנו לאפוטרופסית את כתב התביעה, כדי שתשמיע בישראל את דבריה מול השופט. כמו כן, ביקשנו מבית המשפט להורות על ביצוע תסקיר בינלאומי, כדי שרשויות הרווחה באיטליה ימנו גורמי מקצוע בלתי תלויים.
"צריך לזקק את האינטרס של הילד. טובתו היא לגדול בישראל, כי זה מה שהוריו רצו. הם עשו את כל ההכנות כדי לחזור לארץ. אפוטרופסות לא נקבעת לפי 'כל הקודם זוכה'. מדובר בעתידו של ילד, איך יגדל, מה תהיה הזהות שלו והיכן יקים משפחה".
תגובתה של איה בירן לא התקבלה עד סגירת הגיליון.
tala@israelhayom.co.il
