Dec. 29 (UPI) — An Australian man living in Israel says he’s barred from leaving the Middle Eastern country for 8,000 years, or until he pays back child support payments totaling more than $3 million.
Noam Huppert says he’s basically been marooned in Israel since 2013 due to a local law that banned him from leaving until the year 2999.
His other option is to pay the back child support payments in full — about $3.3 million.
According to Israel’s stay-of-exit order, anyone who fails to pay child support payments can be prevented from leaving the country, even for holidays.
Huppert moved to Israel in 2012 to be closer to his two young children. Eventually, the mother sued him for the support payments, which resulted in the stay-of-exit-order.
Huppert, 44, an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical company, argues that Australian citizens “have been persecuted by the Israeli justice system only because they were married to Israeli women,” in an interview with News Corp Australia.
“I am one of them.”
Huppert added that he’s speaking out to “help other Australians who may suffer this literally life-threatening experience.”