(JTA) — Three American-Israeli children can spend their summer at camp rather than juvenile detention, where they were sent for refusing to see their father.
A family court judge in Michigan lifted her contempt of court order against the Detroit-area kids on Friday, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Liam Tsimhoni, 14, and his siblings, Rowie, 10, and Nathalie, 9, had been held in detention since June 24.
Judge Lisa Gorcyca of Oakland County Family Court had threatened to detain the children until they turned 18 unless they started speaking to their father. Their parents, Maya and Omer Tsimhoni, both originally from Israel, have waged a divorce and now a custody battle for five years.
The children live with their mother in suburban Bloomfield Hills and claim that their father hit their mother. Gorcyca has blamed Maya Tsimshoni for poisoning her children against their father.
“The court finds that it is in the children’s best interests to grant the father’s and the guardian ad litem’s motion to allow the children to attend summer camp,” the judge said. It is not known what will happen when camp ends.
The attorney for Omer Tsimhoni, who according to the Detroit Press lives in Israel, said she plans to file a motion granting him custody of the children. Omer Tsimhoni reportedly was in court for a hearing on June 24, but not on Friday.
The case has drawn national and international attention.
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