Last update - 00:00 25/09/2007
Court won't let children visit father in Sderot due to security concerns
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent
In a precedent-setting decision, a Jerusalem rabbinical court has forbidden the children of a Sderot resident from visiting their father due to the security situation in the western Negev town.
The court determined that the father would be able to spend the Sukkot holiday with his children - ages three, four and seven - only if he would take them elsewhere.
The father, predictably, reacted furiously, saying, "This is absurd. I serve in the security forces, guard the state and my city day and night, and they won't let me watch my children in my home?"
His rabbinical advocate, Aharon Mizrahi, also reacted harshly to the decision. "This is a dangerous precedent. The court's decision suggests that it is dangerous to raise children on half of the State of Israel's territory, in any place where there is a conflict," he said.
"What will the [rabbinical] judges do if missiles fall on Kiryat Shmona? If the defense minister doesn't issue an injunction to evacuate children from Sderot, why does the court determine that it is forbidden to bring children there?"
The injunction reached the father on Tuesday afternoon, after it was too late for him to appeal the decision before the holiday. He said that his children were eagerly awaiting their visit with him after, on Yom Kippur, he showed them the sukkah he was preparing and promised them surprises for the holiday.
The father said that his ex-wife decided to prevent her children from visiting him, despite visiting arrangements determining he receives the children every other weekend and holiday.