An appeals court has ordered that two children formerly residing in Wood County should be returned to the United States from Israel.

District Judge Brad McCampbell ruled in January that the twin girls should be returned to their mother in Hawkins, after his original decision awarding the girls to their father, a former Israeli diplomat, was overturned on appeal.

The 12th District appeals court in Tyler ordered initially that the girls be surrendered to an Israeli court on Feb. 15, 2023.

The father appealed, and the appeals court affirmed McCampbell’s ruling, issuing an order on Monday as follows:

“IT IS ORDERED that C.M.S. shall return the children subject of this suit, A.H.S. and A.Y.S., to the United States of America, and to the jurisdiction of the trial court (Wood County), within 21 calendar days of the date an appellate mandate is issued in this proceeding, and be subject to any appropriate sanctions to be determined by the trial court if C.M.S. fails to timely return the children as directed.”

In an email this week, the mother, Mishala Cohen, said she is estranged from the girls except for one 15-minute phone call per week, and signed it “Afraid and Alone.”

She said the girls are being unlawfully retained in Israel.

She said the mandate for their return has not yet been issued because their father has until Nov. 23 to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.

Chaim Shachem was previously dismissed from the diplomatic corps after his then 13-year-old daughter was removed from his custody for “acts of violence”described as beating her with a belt.

In a subsequent email, Cohen said there are not steps being taken to enforce the American court order.

The father has kept the case in continuous appeals since the original court order granting him the children was first overturned in March 2022, she said.

“Now Israel is at war and my children and I are still separated from each other. The State Department Office of children’s affairs won’t even help us,” she wrote.

“My children and I are both staying in Red Zones – my girls are in East Jerusalem and I am in the West Bank. 

“We are desperate for help.”