An Israeli teenager on leave from the army was fined nearly $1,000 for a kidnapping prank that backfired. Ariel Lourie, 19, who was visiting his mother in Melbourne in September, pretended to be a kidnapper when he took a 6-year-old boy from a suburban park in a Jewish neighborhood. On Tuesday he pleaded guilty to unlawful assault in Melbourne Magistrates Court. A charge of child stealing was dismissed. Lourie told the court he was “just joking” and apologized in writing to the family.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
