Toronto Sun

Monday, December 10, 2001

Mom in hiding after losing in court

By JAMES MCCARTEN, CP
Toronto Sun

Two months ago Ruth Schonblum and her three youngest children moved from Israel to Toronto to begin a new life.

But Schonblum's ex-husband -- the children's father -- armed with a court order endorsed by an Ontario Superior Court justice, wants them back in Israel.

Schonblum, 43, was in hiding yesterday with son Eliyahu, 14, and daughters Yiska, 11, and Bat Sheva, 12, in a desperate bid to keep the kids from being taken back to Jerusalem.

FUGITIVE

She became a fugitive from justice last week after ex-husband Yosef Cornfeld went to court in Toronto with an application under the international law known as the Hague Convention to have the children returned.

"This is not something I'm used to feeling or doing. Anything against the law is totally against my way of thinking. But I don't want my children back in that war zone now, so they've really put me in a bind," said Schonblum from an undisclosed location.

BORN IN T.O.

Schonblum, 43, was born in Toronto and lived here until she was 18, when she moved to Jerusalem and married Cornfeld, an "ultra-orthodox, right-wing Jew" with whom she had eight children, according to court documents.

The couple were divorced in 1996, drafting a detailed separation agreement that left the kids "in the exclusive domain and custody" of Schonblum until they turn 18.

"We're talking about bombs on buses. That's how people move around in Jerusalem today," she said.

Copyright © 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership.