Of all the tragedies that the Russia-Ukraine war inflicted on the citizens of both countries, the separation of parents from their children is surely one of the most difficult of them: recently the Family Court in Tel Aviv ordered the return of a girl from Israel to her mother in Russia, four months after she was brought to Israel by her father from Ukraine.
Last year, in a joint decision with the mother, who is a citizen of Russia, the father, who is a citizen of Ukraine, left their home in Russia with their 6-year-old daughter.
The purposes of the trip were to visit his parents in Ukraine, arrange citizenship and work documents in Russia and renew the girl's passport.
But the father refused to return the girl to Russia, and when the war broke out he moved with her to Poland and from there to Israel.
Parents and their children fleeing the war, illustration, photo: AP
Following this, the mother appealed to the High Court through attorney Angelika Ben David from the Legal Aid Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, requesting that the father be ordered - based on the law of the Hague Convention, which deals with the return of abducted children - to return her daughter to Russia because that is her permanent place of residence.
"The girl was born and grew up in close contact with the Russian being and with the values and educational way of life of Russia, learned the Russian language and was educated about the Russian culture," the mother explained.
A war that hurts everyone, Ukrainian military personnel shoot at Russian forces, photo: REUTERS
According to Attorney Ben David, "The girl stayed in Israel for only four months and did not integrate into her new environment.
She does not speak Hebrew, is in a kindergarten that only speaks Hebrew, and has only a few friends who speak Russian.
Apart from the damage already caused to her due to her father's actions, her remaining in Israel without her mother's presence will cause her irreversible psychological damage."
The father, on the other hand, claimed that his act was not out of choice, but because of Russia's bombing of Ukraine.
"The only way before me was to escape to the West," he said, "and since I and my family are citizens of Israel, that was the only plan for its security."
According to him, the mother's proposal to bring the girl to Russia, "which does not respect international laws and bombs innocent citizens in various cities in Ukraine," was not practical either.
He also claimed, "There is a fear of risking the girl when she is returned to Russia and it is not clear what will happen to her, as well as due to the fear of an economic disaster in Russia, therefore Israel is the safest place for her."
Hate Russia but live in it
In summarizing her decision, the judge stated that, on the factual test, Russia is indeed the girl's place of residence: "The fact that the minor had three places of residence during her life does not change the result, according to which her usual place of residence was in Russia - where she lived with her parents in the months preceding her removal by the father, and where The parties began to establish their lives."
The judge ruled: The girl will return to Russia, illustration, photo: Gideon Markowitz
The judge stated that "although the evidence shows that the father expresses hatred towards Russia, but in practice the parties chose, for various reasons, to leave the country and move to live in Russia. In view of the aforementioned and the fulfillment of the terms of the Hague Convention, I order the return of the minor to her home in Russia."
On top of that, the father was ordered to pay NIS 65,000 for legal expenses and the mother's expenses.
"Thus, in fact, the long journey, crossing continents and nations, that the mother went through, and the prolonged war she waged, at the same time as the Russia-Ukraine war, come to an end, with the aim of returning the minor to her bosom. And as the mother expressed it in her emotional address to the court at the end of the hearing: 'I'm just tired, It's been almost a year and two months, and I really don't have the strength,'" concluded the judge.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us