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Last update - 01:13 25/07/2008 Boy whose mother is suspected of selling him removed from U.K. family By Roni Singer-Heruti and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondents Tags: Britain, Israel, child abuse The British police have removed a nine-year-old Israeli boy from a family in Leeds, at Israel's request, and transferred him to a welfare facility until his relationship to that family is clarified. The boy and his 12-year-old sister are at the center of a case that has baffled the Israeli police. The boy was sent to England in June 2007, while the girl traveled to London alone last month and was detained by British immigration police. Also Thursday, a Tel Aviv judge denied bail to the children's mother, who is suspected either of selling her children to a British woman, or of smuggling them to England because she feared the welfare authorities wanted to remove them from her custody. Advertisement "I didn't sell my kids. I sought asylum for them," the mother said at her bail hearing. "I talked to my son 10 days ago, and I knew that my daughter was detained, but I have no information on her. No one will tell me anything. I don't want the kids back in Israel; I cannot raise them here." The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court ordered the mother held without bail for four more days. She was sent for a psychological assessment earlier in the week, but the results were inconclusive. During the bail hearing, police officer Moshe Poistro said: "There is still serious suspicion that this woman, for her own reasons, transferred the children to the United Kingdom not to distance them from Israel, but to distance them from Israeli welfare officials." The suspect told police detectives Wednesday night that she decided a year ago to send her son to an acquaintance who lives in Leeds, Jeanne Michel. A month ago, she also sent her daughter. The woman said she eventually planned to move to England as well, to be with the children. She also has a four-year-old son, who has been in his father's custody while she is in detention. At the bail hearing, Poistro expressed surprise that the girl had been in the custody of British immigration police for a month, but the mother's British friend never reported this to her. The mother's defense attorney, Eli Masterman, said the mother had been aware of her daughter's detention and had "tried to resolve the problem." Ruth Sinai adds: The Tel Aviv welfare services do not know when the girl will arrive in Israel or if Israeli embassy officials in London have met with her. Orit Mosel, who heads the city's welfare department, said that as soon as she knows when the girl will arrive, the welfare committee will meet to determine where she will be sent. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Former top spy speaks Ex-Mossad chief Halevy says a strike on Iran would affect Israel for 100 years. Trying Hitler Did a light sentence in a Munich trial pave the way for Hitler's rise to power?   1.   Detained children 02:57  |  Amy 25/07/08   2.   amy 23:00  |  wh 25/07/08   3.   Wellfare of themselves 15:48  |  Ulf 27/07/08

Read & React Tensions high in Gaza as Hamas cracks down on rival groups Responses: 176 Security sources: Israeli prisons are training grounds for Hamas terrorists Responses: 21 IDF officers: Yeshiva teachers incite W. Bank teens to violence Responses: 43 Report: Rabbis slam removal, publication of note Obama left in Western Wall cracks Responses: 34 Aluf Benn: 'Hamastan' is prototyope for future Palestinian state Responses: 24 Rosner's Domain Barack Obama, the fashionable darling of the Israeli left The Lebanese are undercutting goodwill in Washington (WTR) Is Jimmy Carter 'tone-deaf' to Jewish sensibilities? (WTR) Will Lebanon pay the price for the prisoner swap deal? More Headlines 15:53 Shin Bet chief: Hezbollah deal may spur abductions 14:32 Israeli troops in Hebron kill Hamas man behind Dimona attack 14:40 Israel denies reports it plans to pull out of northern Ghajar 15:46 Tensions high in Gaza as Hamas cracks down on rival groups 14:50 MK Lieberman: Either charge me for corruption or drop case 13:46 Report: Rabbis slam removal, publication of note Obama left in cracks of Western Wall 14:17 Award-winning Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine dies at age 82 10:10 IDF officers: Yeshiva teachers incite W. Bank teens to violence 09:57 Police seeks earlier questioning of Olmert in corruption probe 07:15 Security sources: Israeli prisons are training grounds for Hamas terrorists 09:41 Members of IAF Unit 669 head to Laos to search for missing Israeli tourist 15:52 Dutch Jews who lived in hiding during Nazi occupation seek reparations Previous Editions Select Day 25 jul 24 jul 23 jul 22 jul 21 jul 20 jul 18 jul 17 jul 16 jul 15 jul 14 jul 13 jul

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