here are two options. The ‘first-aid’ option is to file a petition at the Supreme Court of Justice in Jerusalem for a Habeas Corpus Order for the return of the child abroad. This is the usual option where the abduction is ‘fresh’ and from a non-Hague Convention country.

The second option is to file for the child’s return at an Israeli family court but the process will be longer. The family court has jurisdiction under the Family Courts’ Act of 1995 to hear cases where the alleged abduction is from a country which is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction (1980) and also where the country is not a signatory.

It should be noted that if the second option is chosen and the abducting parent then starts files for custody at the same family court, and no hearings have taken place on this abroad, then it is likely that the two pleas, the abduction and the custody plea, will be heard together and the emphasis will be on the ‘child’s good.’