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What , if anything , can be done to stop my two children aged 12 and 9 being forced, against their wishes, to leave their home with me, their friends and school, and move in with their father and his new wife (who have just returned from the States), in a different town in Israel? Under our Israeli divorce agreement he has formal custody, although in practice I continued to be the children's primary caregiver, except for a year they spent with him, abroad, before they returned to Israel to spend the last 12 months with me, while he remained overseas.

Your children are free to file their independent custody plea, via you, as their natural guardian, at the family court and request that formal legal custody be transferred from their father to you, so that they can remain living with you, legally. An application for temporary custody can also be made.
 
Under Israeli law children are not bound by the terms of agreements made by their parents about them, and are independent legal personalities, with rights of their own that cannot be compromised by their mother and father, as their natural guardian. Custody rulings about children, even if formally called "judgments" are never really final, but are dynamic because of the minors' changing needs/wishes and changes in parental circumstances.
 
Within the proceedings, which involve the appointment of suitably qualified professionals to make reports and recommendations,on parental capability, custody and visitation, the children will have an opportunity to express their own opinion and wishes about where they want to live, and with whom. The preferences of the elder child,and possibly those of the younger one,will be taken into account, depending on their emotional maturity,with minors of around 10 years usually having a significant say in their fate. Ultimately the court will decide, with the children's "good" or welfare being the paramount factor.
 
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