The Fixler family lost its appeal to the UK’s High Court to prevent the withdrawal of life support from 2-year-old Alta and bring her to Israel, UK media outlets reported.
The High Court ruled on Friday that an earlier court decision to provide palliative care only must be upheld.
“I know that Alta’s devoted parents will be profoundly distressed by the outcome of this appeal,” Lord Justice Baker wrote. “Every parent and grandparent – indeed every person – from every community will have the deepest sympathy for them, and for Alta’s loving sibling.”
“The strong support they draw from their faith and their community will be a source of consolation, but the emotional pain they are suffering is very hard to endure. I understand why they have pursued this appeal and deeply regret that I cannot do more to help them.”
Justice Baker was apparently not impressed by the numerous public figures from all over the world who tried to intervene and wrote letters to UK senior officials imploring them to allow Alta’s parents to bring her to Israel without any cost to the UK.
He wrote that he “has great respect for the views held by the President and Chief Rabbi of Israel and the other correspondents” and that “the issues arising in this case, as in similar cases in the English courts in recent years, have attracted extensive comment in this country and abroad.” However, “Such comment, from whatever source, cannot have an important influence on the outcome of proceedings, which must be determined on the evidence and in accordance with the principles of English law.”
The Fixsler family can still appeal the case to the Supreme Court, the UK’s final court of appeal.
The court ruling can be seen here.
The public is asked to daven for Alta bas Chaya betoch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.
Anyone interested in financially assisting the family can click here.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Why highlight the fake British sympathy of this murderous judge?
One should not be surprised with this ruling. After all, with centuries of Crusades, Blood Libels, Pogroms, and the Holocaust, inherent disdain for human life is essential to European culture!!
Ari Rosman
The judge is typically disingenuous and an elegant fraud in the style of British (and Canadian) judges.
Britain claims to be based upon Parliamentary Supremacy! So Parliament should be deciding issues of import such as end-of-life. But they never have. The judges have abrogated the whole of it to themselves!
For one, England does NOT have a Constitution. Therefore there is no higher law. It is esentially what the self-selected justices choose to fit their elegant “enlightened” agenda.
Britain did have a system prior to 2005 based on hundreds of years of precedents but all that was thrown out 16 years ago coinciding with the invention of the UK Supreme Court, dismissing the age-old legal tradition of Law Lords.
It starts with “right to die” and continues with “right to murder” and goes on to what’s coming next?
All those in the North America who have claimed that the right to die is all about economics, this proves it is completely false. And always was.
It was a “moral” decision to put Alta to death.
It wouldn’t cost an Enlish taxpayer and NHS another penny
It would be cheaper to move the child out of the country with all the costs borne by others.
So much for those who still pretend that UK and US should be appreciated as ‘Medinos Shel Chessed’!
sad, no one should have rights over our children____especially a country with such jewish hatred
Typical England of yore. Their seemingly dignified mannerisms and talk are just a veil to their otherwise dispassionate inner selves. They did not care then that Jews were being slaughtered nor was England ever a safe haven for Jews. Today is no different. The queen and her royal family just further show what low loves the Brits really are. They’re more aligned with Erdog’an that with the real western world.
However, “Such comment, from whatever source, cannot have an important influence on the outcome of proceedings, which must be determined on the evidence and in accordance with the principles of English law.”
This is pure rubbish. Every Bnei Noach including England has the commandment You should not kill. Sickening and disgusting is an understatement.
May [so called justice] Baker suffer unprecedented tragedy & Divine retribution against his family & progeny, until he releases this Alta Fixler from her shackles in Britain.
Where is that farce called the Chief Rabbinate??
Their predecesors would never have tolerated this development.
Rabbi Lord Jakubovits declared in writing: the diminishing of a single life is diminishing of all of our lives in essence
Where is British Jewry? They mobilize for Russian Jews and the like. Are they now incapable?
Sorry to say this has nothing to do with being Jewish. The same thing happened a couple of years ago in Britain with goyisha little boy the hospital wanted to take him off life support even though America told them that they have the means to heal this boy that they have the proper treatments to help this boy but Britain would not hear anything of it Who didn’t try to intervene for this little boy even the pope let alone other people intervene on his behalf to no fail
You can bet your bottom dollar that had this been a moslem child, their opinion would be totally different.
1. This has nothing to do with antisemitism. The exact same decision would be made no matter who the baby’s parents were.
2. Why did anyone imagine the court would be influenced by statements from public figures? The decision is of course horrible and wicked, but the judge was 100% right when he said “Such comment, from whatever source, cannot have an important influence on the outcome of proceedings, which must be determined on the evidence and in accordance with the principles of English law.” That is exactly right, and the Torah itself explicitly says the same thing. A judge must rule strictly according to the law, and may not be influenced by ANYONE’s pleas or intervention, no matter who it is.
The problem here is UK law, which requires the court to take into account ONLY the baby’s interests, and does not recognize that parents have any rights whatsoever. Once the court determined that it’s in the baby’s interest to die, it follows that she must die, and nobody must be allowed to interfere with that. The fact that her parents want her alive is simply irrelevant. According to UK law she doesn’t belong to them in any way at all, so they have no more rights here than anyone else. And that is a wicked law.